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ANCIENT 
MELROSE 






jI Resume of ye Early 
History of ye City com- 
piled fromJuthorative 
Records and documents 



Published by the 

MELROSE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

PRICE 2 5 CENTS 



ANCIENT 
MELROSE 

AND SOME 

Information about its 

Old Homesteads 

Families & Furnishings 

G- ^M^- 



Compiled and annotated by 
LEVI S. GOULD and 
FRANKLIN P. SHUMWAY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

MELROSE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

19 15 




Q 

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SEP20I3I5©CI.A410766 ^' 



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PREFACE 

The Melrose Historical Society desires to 
extend their thanks to the family of the late 
E. H. Goss, Esq. for permission to reprint 
ad libitum from his "History of Melrose" 
matter and cuts relating to the early life of 
Melrose and to Mr. H. Willard Clark for 
the use of original photographs of the 
"Phineas Upham" house and grounds. 

The illustrations and text of this book are all 
copyrighted and must not be reprinted unless 
written permission is given by the owners 
of the copyrights on same. 

The thanks of the Society are also tendered 
to the many advertisers whose advertisements 
made it possible to issue this book without 
expense to the Society. 

Franklin P. Shumway, 

Presidejit. 

Melrose, Septemlier 1st, 191>^- 



COPYRIGHT 
1915 

Melrose Historical Society 



BOSTON MASS. 
OLD COLONY PRESS 



EARLIEST VISITORS 

OXK of tho ninny voyages of thr intrepid and Iieroic navigator, Cajitain John Smith, 
was made in 1614, when he hi'st visite(l the New England eoast. He saiknl from 
London, in the month of Aj^ril, witii two ships and forty-five men. Tlie ol)jeet of 
th(> \-oyage was, "to take Whales, for which we hatl one Samuel Cramton, and diners others 
ex-jMn't in tliat faculty, and also to make tryalls of a Myne of Gold and Coi)])er; if those 
failed, Fish and Furs were then our refuge to make our sehies sauers howsoeuer." 

Not meeting with much success, and finding "this Whaleflshing a costly conclusion," 
and filled with his usual sjnrit of exi)loration, he says: "Whilst the Sailors fished, myself 
with eight others of them that might best bee spared," ranged up and dow'n the coasts of 
Maine and Massachusetts, "in a small boat," visiting the various harliors and rivers. Dur- 
ing this time, he continues: "I was vp one riuer fortie miles, crossed the mouths of many, 
whose heads are reported to be great Lakes." When he entered Boston Harbor, he says: 
" I tooke the fairest reach in this Bay for a river, whereupon I called it Charles River, the 
name of our Royall King Charles." 

How far inland, around the Charles, Mystic and Maiden Rivers, Captain Smith pene- 
trated is not known. He may liave visited our pleasant vallej' and its surrounding hills, 
but he has made no record of such an event. Without doubt he traversed a goodly jiortion 
of the territorj' of Charlestown and ALvlden, as three months were occupied in these travels 
and explorations. 

In his (|uaint manner he describes this section as follows: 

"And then the Countrie of Massachusetts, w'hich is the paradise of all those parts. For 
heere are many lies all planted with corne, groues, mulberries, saluage gardens, and good 
harbours. . . . And of all the foure parts of the world that I haue yet seene not inhabited, 
could I haue but means to transport a Colonie, I would rather line here than anywhere; 
and if it did not maintaine it selfe, were wee l)ut once indifferently well fitted, let vs starue. 
. . . there is victuall to feede vs, wood of all sorts to build Boats, Ships, or Barks; the fish 
at our doores; i)iteh, tarre, masts, yards, and most other necessaries onely for making? 
And here are no liard Landlords to racke vs with high rents, or extorted fines to consume 
vs; no tedious pl(>as in law to consume vs with their many years disputations for Justice; 
no multitudes to occasion such imp(Mliments to good orders, as in popular States. So freely 
hath God and his Maiesty l:)estowed those blessings on them that will attempt to obtaine 
them, as here euery man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land; or the 
greatest part in a small time. If hee haue nothing but his hands, he may set vp his trade; 
and by Industrie (juickly grow rich." 

In September, 1621, ten men, under the leadership of Captain Myles Standish, witli 
Tisquantum, or Squanto, and two other Indians, left Plymouth on a vo^^age of discovery. 
They were gone four days. They landed, evidently, on the Maiden shore of the Mystic 
River, ami travelled u]) tiirough Medford. Their diary .states: 

"On the morrow we went ashore, all but two men, and marched in Amies vp in the Coun- 
trey. Hauing gone three myles, we came to a place where Corne had been gathered, a 
house pulled downe, and the people gone." 

They went as far as the residence of the former Chief Nanepashemet, i)arleyed and 
bartered with some Indians and returned to Plymouth, reporting the result of their obser- 



vations. Many other exploring expeditions were made by those who followed the Pilgrims 
in 1620 to our shoi'es. 

These were engendered by the different grants made in England about this time. The 
territory of which Melrose forms a part, was granted to Robert Gorges by "The Council 
established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and 
governing of New England in America," of which the Earl of Warwick and Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, father of Robert, were the most prominent members. This Council claimed autho- 
rity "over the region extending from Delaware Bay to Newfoundland and westward over 
unknown countries to tlie great South Sea." This grant to Robert Gorges conveyed 

"all that part of the mainland commonly called Messachusiac, on the north-east side of the 
Bay known by the name of Massachuset, together with all the shores along the sea for ten 
English miles in a straight line towards the north-east, and thirty miles into the main- 
land through all the breadth aforesaid." 

Soon after Robert Gorges granted to John Oldham and John Dorrell 

"all the lands wt^in Mattachusetts Bay betweene Charles River and Abousett [Saugus] 
River, Containd in lengt by a streight lyne 5 myles vp the said Charles River into the maine 
land north west from the border of the sd Bay including all Creekes and points by the way 
and 3 myles in length from the mouth of the foresaid river of Abousett vj) into the maine 
land vpon a streight lyne S: W: incluiling all Creeks and points, and all the land in bredth 
and length betweene the foresaid Rivers, wtii all pa-ogatives Ryall Mynes excepted." 

In 1628 many settlers came to Salem, among them Ralph, Richard and WiUiam Sprague, 
sons of Edward Sprague of Upway, in Dorsetshire. Soon after arriving, these brothers, 
with several others, with the approbation of Governor Endicott, went on an exploring expe- 
dition, in a westerly direction, traversing the intervening territory between Salem and 
Charlestown; thus passing through and examining on the way, portions of Lynn, Saugus, 
Melrose, Maiden and Medford; fording three rivers, Saugus, Maiden and Mystic, before 
reaching their destination, Mishawam, now Charlestown. Returning the Sprague brothers 
remained in Salem but a short time; for they soon after retraced their steps and settled 
in Charlestown, and were among those referred to in a letter written in 1629, by Rev. Francis 
Higginson. 

"There are in all of vs both old and new planters about three hundred, whereof two 
hundred of them are settled in Neihumkek, now called Salem: and the rest have planted 
themselves at Masathulets Bay, beginning to build a towne there which wee doe call Cherton, 
or Charles Towne." 

There were many descriptions of our New England territory sent home to England 
by these early adventurers, some of which seem to us of today somewhat overdrawn and 
too enthusiastic; but none of these wi'iters were so thorough and enthusiastic as was William 
Wood, who, after his return to England in 1634, gives a complete and detailed history of 
this whole territory. His work was entitled, "New Englands Prospect. A true, lively, and 
experimentall description of that part of America, commonlij called New England: discovering 
the state of that Countrie, both as it stands to our nexc-come English Planters; and to the old 
Native Inhabitants.- Laying downe that which may both enrich the knowledge of the niijid- 
traveUing Reader, or benefit the future Voyager. ^^ 

In the second part of this work Wood gives a complete description of the Indian tribes 
then inhabiting this region. It has besides, the first map of "The South Part of New-Eng- 
land, as it is Planted this Yeare, 1634," wherein he locates the various rivers, settlements, 
etc. Herein is shown "Spott pond," "Misticke pond," "Horn ponds," and others. 

Two large and powerful tribes held sway in this region when our fathers landed, — the 
Massachusetts and the Pawtuckets. The renowned sachem of the Pawtuckets was Nane- 
pashemit, who took up his abode on the Mystic River in 1615, and was killed there three 

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or four years later. He was the father of Sagamore John of the Mj-stic, Sagamore James 
of Lynn, and Sagamore (Jeorge of Salem. George finally filled the place of his father, and 
was sachem of the Pawtuckets. During the residence of Nanepashemit in Medford, his 
lodge was on Rock Hill, where lie could best watch the ajiproacli of his enemies. . . . The 
territory for nuuiy miles round Mystic River was owned and occupied hy small tribes or 
detachments, each having its own head. Medford and some of the adjoining territory 
belonged to Sagamore Joim, whose Indian name was Monohagnaham, and wlio was friendly 
to our ancestors, and gave our fathers permission to settle, and afterwards appraised them 
of premeditated attacks by unfriendly Indians. 

Sagamore John had liis headquarters in iVIalden, his home l)cing in the southern part 
of the town, now Everett, ''upon a creek, which runs from the marshes between Powder- 
Horn Hill and Winnesimmet, into the Mystic River at Sweeetz(;r's, or Beacham's, Point." 
From which point the ancient road laid out in 165,^ ran through Everett, Maiden via Forest 
Dale cemetery and Wyoming cemetery, Lynde, Lebanon, and Green Street Melrose to the 
"Reading Ponds." 

FIRST SETTLEMENTS 

Originally the territory of Melrose belonged to the town of Charlestown, which was 
settled in 1629, and was a far more extensive region than that now belonging to it. It then 
included what is now Somerville, Maiden, Everett, Woburn, Bui'lington, Melrose, Stone- 
ham, a small part of Cambridge, West Cambridge and Reading, and a large part of Medford. 
Town after town was taken from it, grailually diminishing its territory until it became 
the smallest town, territorially, in the State. Woburn, comjjrising Burlington, was taken 
from it and incorporated in 1642; Maiden, in 1649; Stoneham, in 1725; Somerville, in 
1842. In 1717 and 1725, a large tract called "North Charlestown," was set off, part to 
Maiden and part to Reading. In 1754, another tract, including several large farms, was 
set off to Medford, and now forms the eastern part of that city. A tract was set off to 
Cambridge in 1802, and to West Cambridge in 1842. Thus was Charlestown, now a district 
of Boston, reduced to its present limits. 

In a few years after the settlement of Charlestown, the inhabitants from that town and 
other sources, began to cross over the Mystic River, and settle at Mystic Side; it was thus 
known as early as 1634; and when Thomas Coytmore, "a right godh^ man," built a dam, 
and soon after a mill at "Black Rock," on "Tlu'ee Myle Brook." 

Near the present center of Maiden, quite a settlement had been established; and, 
owing to their distance from Charlestown j)roper, very soon the inhabitants began to 
think of forming a new town, and having taken the necessary steps, on Maj' 11, 1649, ^^^^ 
General Court passed the following vote: 

"In answer to the peticon of seuU inhabitants of Misticke side their request is graunted, 
viz., to be a distinct towne of themselves, & the name thereof to be Maulden." 

Maiden was nam(>d after the town of Maldoii, England, by Joseph Hills and others, 
who came from that town. "The affections of tlie first i)lanters of New England still clung, 
as was natural, to the soil of tluir nativity; and they designed, by the names they betsowed 
on the places of their abode, in this land of tlicir adoi)1ion, to keej) alive in their lnvasts the 
tender associations of home." 

In 1727 Maiden lost (juite a lai'g(^ tract of tcriitoiN which would now liaxc I'oi'ined a 
part of Melrose had this action not have taken place. \ number of families in the 
extreme north of the town were dissatisfied by "being so remote from tiie Middle of the 
Town that they are under great Inconvenience and Difficulties to attend tlu, puldick worsiiip 
there, and their Civil and Military Duties in the Said Town, and that they ly much 
nearer to Reading," etc. Their prayer to be set off to Reading was favorably acted upon 



by that town, which petitioned the General Court for their annexation and this was also 
favorably acted upon by Maiden, May 22, 1727. [l. s. g.] 

The section thus lost to Maiden shortened the town more than a mile, and carried with 
it some of the wealthiest inhabitants. It is to this addition to the limits of the old town of 
Reading that the town of Wakefield owns the peculiar configuration of its southerly por- 
tion embracing the present village of Greenwood. 

The names of the ten families thus changing their town connections were : William Green, 
Thomas Upham, Nathaniel Evans, David Green, John Walton, Samuel Evans, John Evans, 
Richard Upham, Samuel Howard and Thomas Green. In 1734, still another tract of the 
northwestern part of Maiden was set off, by Legislative act, to the town of Stoneham. There 
was a cluster of Green families in this part of the town who were also remote from religious 
privileges, and who were not embraced in the action of 1727. A petition to the General 
Court, June 21, 1734, signed by John Green, Isaac Green, John Dexter and Jonas Green 
of Maiden, and David Green, Thomas Green and Samuel Green of Reading, which peti- 
tion set forth "their Difficulty to attend the Pul)lic Worship of God in their Towns by Reason 
of their Remoteness from the meeting house;" and praying "That they and their familys 
and Estates may by order of this Court be annexed to the Town of Stoneham." Favorable 
action was granted Dec. 21, 1734. This territory comprised mo.st all of that now known as 
the Melrose Highlands, and it remained a part of Stoneham until 1853, when, after much 
opposition on the part of that town, it was reunited to the territory of Melrose. 

The Commons was an extensive tract of land belonging to the town of Maiden, embrac- 
ing about thirty-five hundred acres, which was nearly one-half of the town, as then con- 
stituted. About twenty-three hundred of these acres covered all of the eastern part of 
what is now Melrose, and most of what was once the northerly part of Maiden; that por- 
tion now known as Greenwood. It was the land lying east of Ell Pond, and east of Lebanon 
and Green Streets, extending from a little way below Swain's Pond in the south, up into 
Wakefield, then Reading, to Smith's Pond, now called Crystal Lake; and to within about 
half a mile of Reading meeting-house. It was "full of stately timber," and, say the Charles- 
town records: "indeed generally all the country round aliout was an uncouth wilderness." 

We are told that when our ancestors made their settlement at Shawmut, now Boston, 
they sent out a number of persons to examine the country to the North, who, having searched 
the first range of hills, probably the range near us, then covered with forests, returned and 
reported, that, having reached a mountainous and rocky country, they deemed it best to 
come back, as there was little probability that the settlement would ever extend beyond 
these mountains. 

DIVIDING THE COMMON LAND 

Dec. 25, 1694 Deacon John Green, John Greenland, Tryal Newberry, Phineas Upham, 
Thomas Newhall, Lieutenant Joseph Wilson and Henry Green were chosen to proceed 
with the division of the "Commons" according to the direction "of ye formar commite 
namely those gentillmen That are chosen out of this town." Many other votes giving 
details for accomplishing this imjiortant matter were passed; among them the following: 

"Also agreead upon ])y ye connnitie yt for yedeuiding of ye common euery properioters 
name shall be writ distintly: and yt ye lots be well shufled together: And one man chose 
by ye town: To draw y™ out of a bag: and ye first man yt is drawen shall have ye first 
lot in ye common beginning as aforesaid And so sucksesiuely as ye all drawen To the pro- 
portion of 1000 accres and then to proseed in ye same way and method for another 1000 
accres. 

It is also agreead upon by ye commite That there shall be 2 pols in breadth between euery 
Ramg of lots for high wais : and that euery mans lot shall Run Eighty two pool in leangth 
for yt end. 

1 101 



Also that "this comitoo hcs pouer to improue An artis to lay out ye lots," and that John 
Sargeant Jr., be authorized "To draw y'" out of a bag." 

Mr. Corey, who has uuide a very tliorough study of these "Commons" and their dis- 
position, says: 

The allotment was finally completed; anrl the record begins as follows: 

"Recorded May y 30: 1695: An a Clreement of the Town of maiden In deuiding of 
The common Tlie first deuision begining at the upar end next to nathaniell eueness land 
by Charlstown line: In mannar as foUoweth: ye lots Runing 82 pool in length." 

This division, which contained nine hundred and thirty-one acres and fifty-one poles, 
was laid out in seven ranges and seventy-four lots. It comprised the northern portion of 
the town between the l)ounds of Boston and Charlestown. The Evans farm of sixty acres, 
on the westerly side of the road, anil the woodland, wliich liad been reserved for tlie ministry, 
on the easterly side, alone parted it from the Reading line at Smith's Pond. This tract of 
common was broken by the Green farm, by a piece of land north of L Pond which belonged 
to tlie estate of Thomas Coytmore as early as 1653, by ten acres of meadow "aboue the 
old cow pen in Mauldon" which Joseph Hills had sold to Henry Evans in 1660, and, per- 
haps, by smaller lots of apj^ropriated land. [This division extended to our present Howard 
Street.] 

The second division of the two thousand acres, containing nine hundred and forty-two 
acres and twenty-eight poles, was laid out in six ranges and seventy-five lots. [Extending 
from Howard Street to south of Grove Street.] Beginning "by elle ponde," it stretched 
over the highlands towards the Boston line, covering the country east of the Reading Road 
[Main Street] and north of Swain's Pond. [Quite a large proportion of this territory is 
now known as East Side.] Some of the ways reserved for passage between the ranges in 
this division became highways in time and still exist. [Porter, Upham, and Grove Streets.] 
. . . These two divisions comprised the territory known as the two thousand acres and 
contained, together, eighteen hundred and seventy-three acres and seventy-nine poles, as 
measured by Mr. Fisk, the "artis." 

The third division is descril)ed as "The third diuision for tlie Remander of the wood 
Land one the este sid the mill brook called the three hundretl ackrs Begining at sargent 
Skiners Lote and are to rune 40 poles in length." Its seventy-four lots embraced three 
hundred and eleven acres and fifty-eight poles of the woodland between Swain's Pond and 
Scadan. [Now known as "South East," and includes the high summit of Mount Hood.]" 

The balance of these "Commons" now divided, was on territory now Maiden. There 
were seventy-four proprietors and freeholders who shared in this allotment; the names are 
all given by Mr. Corey, in his Hldorij of Maiden, pp. 376-7. 

Soon after this division was made many of the lots were sold to persons who had no inter- 
est in the common land, and about the year 1700, many of the people who already owned, 
or now bought, began to l)uild houses and settle upon their lots. 

A piece of land at the eastern end of Ell Pond, where now stand the ice-houses, was 
reserved for a watering place, and for the washing of flax, the material of which the home- 
made clothing of the early inhabitants was made. It appears that the abutters began to 
encroach ujion this jiublic water resort, and April 17, 1699, Corporal John Green, Phineas 
Upham, aiul Josejih Floyd were chosen to run 

"ye bounds and renew ye marks between ])roprioters land: and ye small peece of common 
land: adjoining to L |)ond: which was left for convenence of watering." 



11 




SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MEMORIAL BUILDING 




U. S. GRANT POST No. 4, ON MOUNT HOOD-iyio 



MOUNT HOOD 

Mount Hood, which was formerly known 
as "Bear Hill," is situated in the southeast- 
erly part of Melrose near the Saugus line. 
Tills elevation, the hip:hest in this vicinity, 
commands an extensive view which includes 
twenty-seven towns and cities. Nahant and 
Revere Beach seem to be at one's feet, a fine 
view of the waters of Massachusetts Bay 
follows, and then turning inland, the eye is 
greeted with delightful scenery everywhere, 
stretching even to the New Hampshire hills. 

Traditit)n states that upon this summit 
the Wampanoag Indians, whose Sachem in 
early Colonial times was Massasoit, lighted 
the signal fires by which they comnumicated 
with other friendly tribes as far away as Mt. 
Wachusett, near the foot of which dwelt 
another tribe of "good" Indians with whom 
they engaged in barter and exchange. 

In 1907 Mount Hood was purchased by 
Mr. John C. F. Slayton, who constructed a 
road to the summit and there erected an 
observatory which was afterwards partly des- 
troyed by fire but will be restored. 

On the opposite page is a reproduction of a 
photograph of the Veterans of U. S. Grant 
Post G. A. R., No. t, taken on the occasion 
of an outing given for them at Mount Hood 
on Memorial Day, 1907. 

The other illustration is the Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Memorial Building, of Greek architec- 
ture, which was constructed of Quincy granite 
obtained from the old Court House in Boston. 

The corner stone of this splendid building was laid on May 30, 191^2, by the Grand Lodge 
of Masons of Massachusetts, accompanied by the Hugh DePayens Commandery, K. T. and 
the Wyoming Lodge of Masons. 

The finely finished and fitted up G. A. R. Hall, the Veterans' Club Room and the Ladles' 
Parlor, together with the finely appointed kitchen and Banquet Hall occupy the front part of 
the building. 

Directly in the rear, connected with the G. A. R. Hall, and entered by lobbies on the 
north and south sides of the building, is the Auditorium, with a seating capacity for eleven 
hundred people, including two beautiful boxes and a stage finely ecjuipped for dramatic, 
musical or forum purposes, and with a lighting system, throughout unexcelled. 

This imique building was made possible by the generosity and efforts of Mr. John C. F. 
Slayton, chairman of the Building Committee, who devoted more than one year's time of per- 
sistent effort to overseeing the construction of the building, creating and solidifying public 
sentiment in its favor. He also gave more than one-fourth of the whole cost, jjrovided the 
granite for the structure, and contributed the interior furnishings, boxes, pianos and stage 
equipment. 

In the G. A. R. Hall hangs a portrait of Mr. Slayton, with a bronze tablet, inscribed with 
this enduring tribute: — 




JOHN C. F SLAYTON 

WHOSE VISION GENEROSITY AND LEADERSHIP 

MADE THIS MEMORIAL OF PAST HEROISM 

A PRESENT REALITY AND AN INSPIRATION 

TO A NOBLER COMMUNITY LIFE 

PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF MELROSE 

BY HIS FELLOW CITIZENS 

MEMORIAL DAY 

1913 



[13] 



NORTH MALDEN NOW MELROSE 






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At the time the Boston and Maine Raih'oad was completed, (in 1845) ^^^^ territory of 
Melrose, then known as "North Maiden," and earlier as "North End," was very sparsely 
settled. Very soon after it commenced operation, July 4, 1845, people from Boston and 
other places, began to investigate our pleasant vale for residences; and in a short time 
many families had here made their homes. The church, business, town and social relations 
were so separated from the centre and main town of Maiden, that the citizens began to 
agitate a separation from the mother town, and the setting up of a municipality by itself; 
and in 1848, and 1849, this matter was most earnestly canvassed, and action taken. On 
March 22, 1849, ^^ ^^^ was reported to the House of Representatives for the incorporation 
of the Town of Melrose, which was passed April 10, almost unanimously; but it failed 
to receive the concurrence of the Senate by a vote of twenty-seven to three. 

Later this same year, 1849, Maiden, foreseeing that with these railroad facilities, and the 
varied and natural beauty of our situation, wo should in a very few years become a grow- 
ing, thrifty and prosperous community, at a 
legal meeting of the inhabitants of the town of 
Maiden, held Nov. 26, 1849, it was voted: 

"To choose a committee to view and report 
to the town such line as the committee shall think 
to be the proper line between the town of Maiden 
and the proposed town of Melrose. That if the 
inhabitants of Melrose petition the Legislature 
for the division line as reported liy the Select- 
men to advocate the setting off of Melrose but if 
any other line be asked for then to oppose the 
setting off." 

A petition was presented to the Legislature 
early in 1850, by Elbridge Green and others, pray- 
ing that the northerly part of Maiden, which had 
been called North Maiden for many years, be 
set off and incorporated as a separate town to be 
called Melrose. 

At a town meeting held in Maiden, February 7, 1850, it was voted: 
"That whereas, a petition had been presented to the Legislature, by Elbridge Green and 
others, praying that the northerly section of Maiden may be set off and incorporated as a 
separate town, to be called Melrose, and whereas an order of notice has been issued on 
said petition therefore. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Maiden in town meeting assembled, 
called according to law, to act on said order of notice, do hereby express our approval of 
said petition. 

Resolved, That the line of separation petitioned for is a proi)er line, and one that meets 
our approval, and which, in our opinion, ought to be adopted, and the prayer of said peti- 
tion be granted. 

Resolved, That the representative be, and he is, hereb}^ instructed to aid the petition, 
in all honorable ways, to accomplish the object of their petition, keeping always in view 
the interest of the town in wording the act of incorporation." 

In accordance with the mutually expressed wishes of the inhabitants of both sections, 
an act was drawn and reported to the Legislature, which was adopted; and Melrose was 
incorporated May 3, 1850. It then had 1,260 inhabitants, and an assessed valuation 
of $483,446.00. 

A committee of three from each town was appointed "to make a just and equitable settle- 
ment of all the financial concerns ajipertaining to said towns & the property belonging 

1141 







HARLAN P. KELSEY 



Xanbscape Hrcbitcct 



Formal and Naturalistic Designing Water and Rock Gardens 
City Planning and Real Estate Development 



a; 



\ BoxKORD Niirsp:ry, Boxford, Mass. 
Owner j Highlands Nursery, Pineola, N. C. 



Hardy American Native Plants 



SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 



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to the same." Gilbert Haven, Lemuel Cox, and Daniel A. Perkins were appointed for 
Maiden, and George Emerson, Isaac Emerson and Aaron Green for Melrose. 

In 1853, that part of Maiden which was set off to Stoneham in 1734, most of the terri- 
tory of which is now known as the Melrose Highlands, and which embraced also what is 
now the Sewall Woods Park, containing about twenty-five houses with seventy-five in- 
habitants, was set off and annexed to Melrose, thus adding three hundred and eighty- 
one acres to the area of our territory, making a total of thirty-one hundred and fourteen 
and seventy one-hundred ths acres. 

Melrose is situated in the eastern part of the County of Middlesex, and is seven miles 
directly north of Boston. It is bounded on the north by Wakefield, on the east by Saugus, 
(which is in the County of Essex,) on the south by Maiden, and the west by Stoneham, 
and a small corner of Medford. Its shape is somewhat irregular, having a width on the 
Wakefield line of about a mile and a half, on the Saugus line two and a half miles, a little 
less than three miles on the Maiden, and nearly two and a half miles on the Stoneham and 
Medford line. 

Melrose is divided into several distinct villages, the Middlesex Fells, — generally shortened 
into Fells, — and Wj'oming in the southern part of the city; the Centre; the Melrose High- 
lands, in the north, — each of these having a station on the Boston and Maine Railroad. 

THE NAMING OF MELROSE 

The name, Melrose, was adopted by the advocacy of the late William Bogle, a native 
of Glasgow, Scotland, who had been a resident several years before our incorporation, and 
before the Boston and Maine Railroad was built in 1845, ^^^^^ when he had to go back and 
forth to his business in Boston by the stage-coach line wliich ran fietween Boston and Read- 
ing; and which was established in 1798. Mr. Bogle evidently had at least two objects 
in view in offering us our name: one, a sweet sounding one, 
that had not been in common use, we being the first to adopt 
it in our country; another, as a memory of his native land. / / *'• 
The name was adopted by a committee, consisting of the late 
Hon. Daniel W. Gooch, William Bogle, David L. Webster and John Shelton, which met 
at Mr. Shelton's house. No. 75 Lake Avenue. 

[In connection with the claim that William Bogle is entitled to the distinction of nam- 
ing Melrose, it is well to note that German S. Phippen, who was an inhabitant of North 
Maiden, several years and after the incorporation of Melrose served many times as both 
moderator and assessor, not only stated to the writer that Rev. John McLeish, pastor of 
the Methodist Protestant Church at that time, first proposed the name but he also asserted 
it in a communication published in a local paper in July, 1900. Mr. J. P. Melius, a highly 
respected citizen for many years, also published a statement about the same time saying 
that he was 'present at a conference in the house of L. H. M. Cochran, a prominent citizen 
of North Maiden, attended by both Mr. Bogle and Mr. McLeish, on which occasion, he 
reports that McLeish said, "I know a beautiful little town in Scotland which resembles 
this section so much that I should like to have our new town named after it. Mr. Bogle 
has seen it often, I allude to Melrose." As all favored the suggestion Mr. McLeish was dele- 
gated to circulate a petition in behalf of the name. While I do not wish to detract from 
any honor which may be due to an intimate personal friend, as Mr. Bogle was, I am of the 
opinion that the testimony of highly creditable living witnesses sliould be taken in prefer- 
ence to hearsay. I was well acquainted with Rev. John McLeish and heard him preach 
many times. Both he and Mr. Bogle were "canny Scotchmen." *He formed a company 
of "Forty Niners," composed of several North Maiden men, who with others, bought the 
Brig Sea Eagle and sailed around "the Horn" from Boston March 8th, 1849, arriving in 
'Frisco October 28, seven months and twenty days! His son, John Jr., went and in due time 
returned wi th him. John Senior died years ago. The son built the finest tomb in 

* See folio 65 regarding Bogle and McLeish. 

116] 




Wyoming Cemetery, in which Hes the body of his first wife who was a daughter of Lorenzo 
H. M. Cochran and a schoolmate of the writer. John, Junior, is deceased l^ut was Innncd 
in Cincinnati. [L. 8. C] J 

The earliest local name applied to our territory, before it came to be known as "Maiden 
North End," and "North Maiden," was "Pond P'ield;" so called when describing the pos- 
sessions of Ralpli and Richard Sprague, around Ell Pond, in the Charlestoivn Book of Pos- 
sessions, 1638; it is there written "Pond feilde." 

Although Melrose is one of the younger municipalities of this Commonwealth, its terri- 
tory had been occupied, at the time of its incorporation, for a period of over two hundred 
years. There are at least eight families whose ancestors made their abode in this beautiful 
valley, a part of them nearly, and a part over two centuries and a half ago. These are 
the Spragues, the Greens, the Barretts, the Lyndes, the Uphams, the Vintons,the Howards 
and the Goulds. Descendants of all of them are among its citizens today. 

They came determined to succeed, and succeed they did. Would that we had a minute 
chronicle of many of the events that took place in the lives of these early settlers of Mel- 
rose. A few years ago, many of the past generation were living, who could have related 
much pertaining to the early history of the town, which they had received from their ances- 
tors. But they have passed away, and with them many local incidents, events and anecdotes 
that would now be interesting, and which they could have rehearsed, are no longer attain- 
able. 

In those early days, besides the prowling and savage Indian, our surrounding forests, 
many of which have not yet wholly disappeared, were full of wild animals; wolves, deer, 
bears, foxes, and wildcats. So plentiful were they that laws were passed concerning them, 
and liounties offered to aid n the extermination of the most ol)noxious and destructive of 
them. A law was i)assetl by the Colony, in 1630, giving bounty for the killing of wolves; 
one in 1635 ^^r wolves and foxes; and in 1640, the following law was passed: 

"Ordered, thai every man that kills a wolfe wt^ hounds shall have 40s alowed him, & 
whosoever kils a wolfe wt'i trap, peece, or other engine, shall have lo* alowed him, to l)ee 
paid bj' that towne where the wolfe is killed, & if hee bee kiled out of any towne bounds it 
shall bee paid by the Treasurer." 

Wood, in New Englaitds Prospeei, speaks of the "three great annoyances, of wolves, 
rattle-snakes and mosquitoes." 

The former were nightly visitors among the unprotected herds and flocks. In the time 
of deep snows they hung around the settlements in great packs, and their fierce barking 
was a terror to man as well as beast. They infested the Saugus woods as late as 1753 and 
were not entirely extirpated until many years after. Bounties were offered for their scalps, 
and the grisly trophies were sometimes nailed on the meeting-houses. "For Beares," says 
Wood, "they be common being a great blacke kind of Beare, which ha most feirce in Straw- 
berry time." They are said to have been seen in Maiden woods, within this century, and 
they yet prowl along sequestered roads in the traditions of old families. 

Concerning the topographical features of Melrose, geologists have made the statement 
that the Merrimack River once flowed through this valley to the sea; but that by some uj)- 
heaval of nature its course was changed to its present channel. Had that been so, and such 
a change had not taken place, how different would have been the history of this region. But 
such is not the case. In place of a wide flowing river occu))ying nearly all of the level lands, 
we have the City of Melrose, most beautifully situated, with its charming and divt^rsified 
scenery, of valley, hill and wildwood. 



17] 








Ensign Thomas Lynde's Homestead, Buii.t 1670 
The oldest house now standing in Melrose 




Ezra Waite's House, Swains Ponu Avenue 
Built at least 200 years ago 




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COMPLIMENTS OF 







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[21 j 



■ 



EARLY SETTLERS 

The territoiy now Melrose, has l^eeu occupied bj' certain original families and their 
descendants for many generations. 

Among the early settlers in Charlestown was Thomas Lynde, who came from England, 
where he was born in January 1593-4. He became a freeman in 1634. He bought a tract 
of land which included the site of the present State Prison, and which was known until 
after the time of the Revolution as Lynde's Point. He was one of the Deputies to the 
General Court for several years, serving first in 1636. 



^^'^^'/no '\^^^^ 



In the Charlestoum Book of Possessions, for 1638, issued in 1878, as the Third Report 
of the [Boston] Record Commissioners, which has been called the Domesday Book of Mystic 
Side, Thomas Lynde is credited with thirteen items or parcels of real estate, besides his 
homestead "on the southeast side of mill hill." In the various allotments of out-lying 
lands which had been previously made, he had received a number of tracts belonging to 
Mystic Side. One of them, evidently received in the division of hay-lots, was described as 
follows : 

"Three Acres of meaddow by estimation, more or lesse, lying on the north side of mount 
prospect, [Wayte's Mount, now crowned with Maiden's water reservoir,] butting southeast 
upon Edward Convers, and to the northwest upon the riverett, bounded by the comon 
on the southeast and northeast." 

He also received bj^ allotment, "Eightie Acres of land lying in Rockefeilde." Concern- 
ing this tract, the following record occurs in Charlestown Archives, xx: 

"[18. 12m 1638.] Inasmuch as it apprs yt the Land in tlie great Lotts yt was laid out to 
Thomas Line & Richd Sprague prooves altogethf unusefull being nothing but Rockes wch 
was wlioUy besides or intent, & only through oversight of the Surveyors wee Judge it to 
bee Just & equall yt they have allowance elswhere to theire satisfaction thej^ leaveing 
the afforesd Rocks to lye Common." 

Therefore, Aug. 26, 1639, it was agreed "yt Tho: Line shall have some Land b,v the Mount 
Prospect, if upon view it may bee had by his Hay ground." This was laid out as proposed; 
and "Here, as the Lynde family increased, several houses were built, the oldest of which was 
probably built by Thomas the grantee, near the site of the brick-end house now standing 
near the entrance of the [Forest Dale] Cemetery on Forest Street." 

These two allotments of land formed the beginning of the future ownership, by Thomas 
Lynde and his descendants, of not only this land on the northerly side of Wayte's Mount, 
in Maiden, but of nearly all the territory adjoining and now included in the southern part 
of Melrose. 

Ensign Thomas Lynde, eldest son of Deacon Thomas Lynde, was born in England in 
1616, and came to Maiden some years before its incorporation, when it was known as Mystic 
Side. He may have lived for a while in the first house built by his father, but soon after, 
about 1645, ^li'^ homestead was built either by himself or his father, just south of Boston 
Rock on the present. Sylvan Street, near the north-western entrance to Wyoming Cemetery. 
This was the first house built on Melrose territory. As evidence of this early residence 
of Ensign Thomas Lynde, there is a remonstrance, dated March 16, 1648, recorded in the 
Massachusetts Archives, vol. 121, page 21, against the laying out of the highway from Winne- 
simet to Reading as they contemplated, in which reference is made to his farm lands, the 
appointment of Mr. Lynde on a committee to take the matter into consideration, and the 
report of the committee ther(H)n, in 1648; and his house is referred to in the final laying out 
of this road in 1653. 



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In the year 1670, Ensign Thomas Lynde built a homestead on what is now the corner 
of Main Street and Goodyear Avenue, which, with its farm of many acres, was owned up 
to within a few years by one of his descendants of the sixth generation, another Joseph 
Lynde. Soon after, Ensign Thomas left his old home under Boston Rock and went to live 
with his son Joseph, where he remained until his death in 1693; and another son, Capt. 
John Lynde, occupied the old homestead of his father. 

From Ensign Thomas Lynde descended all the Lyndes that are now living, or have lived 
in Melrose. He was one of the Selectmen of Maiden during the years 1678, 1684, 5, 6, 7 
and 8. He died Oct. 15, 1693, aged 77 years. By his will, dated Oct. 3, 1693, on file in the 
Prol:»ate Court at East Cambridge, he divided his farm between his sons Joseph and John; 
giving to Joseph the southern portion, and to John the northern. This farm embraced a 
region about as follows: Beginning at the southwestern corner and extending northerly 
along the line of Washington Street to near Wyoming Avenue; thence easterly along the 
line of that Avenue, and nearly or quite to Lebanon Street, then southerly, embracing the 
territory of Boston Rock, Wyoming Cemetery, Pine Banks Park, and Forest Dale Cemetery, 
to Forest Street in Maiden; thence westerly to Washington Street, embracing "Island Hill," 
between Main Street and the Boston and Maine Railroad, which in early days was sur- 
rounded by the meadows of Three Mile Brook. 

Joseph Lynde, born Dec. 13, 1652, who received the old homestead, and the southern 
and eastern part of the original farm, embracing what is now Wyoming Cemetery, died 
in 1736, at the age of eighty-three years, leaving his real estate to his son Joseph. 

This farm of Dea. Joseph Lynde was bequeathed to his son Joseph, who was born Sep- 
tember 2, 1690; and it was while in his possession that the changes in the old house, here- 
tofore spoken of, were made, leaving its outward appearance about as now seen. In finishing 
and embellishing the parlor, he adorned the large, old-fashioned fireplace with tiling. His 
fatlicr considered this a piece of extravagance, and was so incensed that he struck one of 
the tiles so hard with his cane that it broke; and it so remained for many years. When 

this house passed out of the possession of the Lynde ^ ' \ 

family, a few years since, during a time of some re- Cv^^—f/^T:^^ Xy O'ijC) 

pairs, these tiles mysteriously disappeared. [One of ^ ^^ ^ '^-V^^ 

them is set in the chimney of my house.] [L.S.G.] 

Joseph Lynde was an active man in town affairs; was one of the Selectmen for fifteen 
years, between 1735 and 1760, and a member of the Legislature in the years 1739, 1741 
and 1743. He died March 16, 1763, aged 72 years. In his will he bequeaths his "Negro 
Dinah," and his farm to his son Nathan, who was born July 13, 1732. From Nathan the 
homestead descended to his son Joseph, born July (Y ^ /O 

30, 1769; and he bequeathed it to his son Joseph, c^*'^^ •*;^''*C ^<.*jrL^^<^ 
who was born Nov. 19, 1804, and never married. He /^ 

tilled its acres until he died in 1875, at the age of seventy years, when the homestead passed 
into the possession of his sister, Mrs. Rebecca Lynde Eaton; and in 188 1, the farm, then 
consisting of 175 acres, was bought by Hon. Elisha S. Converse of Maiden. Thus had 
these original acres remained in possession of the Lynde family, descending from father to 
son, through seven generations, and for a period of nearly two and a half centuries. While 
the farm and hamestead was in the possession of the Lyndes, it always evidenced thrift 
and enterprise. Beautifully situated in the valley between ranges of hills, its spacious 
mansion, shaded by tall ancestral elms, its well-tilled acres, large and commodious barns, 
well filled with the products of the farm, flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, all indicated 
one of the good old-fashioned New England homesteads, which, alas! grow scarcer as the 
years go by! 

Capt. John Lynde, who received from his father, Ensign Thomas, the northern part 
of the farm, left the old original house at the foot of Boston Rock and built his new house 
in 1693, and it stood where Uved the late Warren Lynde. The farm and new homestead is 
now owned by his son, Henry Lynde. 

[241 



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Warren Lynde, of the seventh generation, was born Maj'- 15, 1799, and died in 1888 at 
the age of eighty-nine years. The old house first built by Ensign Thomas Lynde, near the 
entrance to the Wyoming Cemetery was abandoned. The old cellar-hole and well existed 
until the wall of the cemetery was built. The story is told among the Lynde descendants, 
of a very severe winter in those early times. A long-continued snow-storm completely 
buried the house from sight; and the relatives and neighbors went to the house on snow- 
shoes, and could only communicate with the snow-entombed family from the top of the 
chimney, through which provisions were passed and the inmates thus kept from starvation. 

The Warren Lynde house, with its contents, was burned April 10, 1819, in the night time, 
the family barely escaping with their lives, and the present capacious mansion was Iniilt 
the following year by Warren's father, 
Benjamin Lynde, born. Oct. 2, 1758, 
who inherited the place by will from his *^ ^y^-^*^^ 

father, Joseph, together with "Island ^ _y^ 

Hill" district of fifteen acres, situated in Maiden just south of the Melrose line, and the 
sixty acre "Hill Pasture" now known as Boston Rock. Benjamin was a member of 
Captain Benjamin Blaney's Maiden company that marched to Lexington, April 19, 1775, 
"to resist the ministeral troops." 

Another Lynde homestead was that of another Joseph, brother of Benjamin, who died 
in 1798, giving to his son Johii, grandfather of A. Wilbur Lynde, his farm of thirty acres 
situated between Grove and Upham Street, east of Lebanon Street, together with the 
homestead now standing on the corner of Grove and Lebanon Streets. 

Two other farms joining this on the easterly side, belonging to John and Samuel Grover, 
were purchased and added to this in 1786. The old homestead still remains in the pos- 
session of the Lyndes, the present owners being Miss Louisa Lynde, ami Mrs. William 
Lynde, but the farm, together with some adjoining land, was bought in 1856, by Hon. 
Daniel W. Gooch, Walter Littlefield and Otis Clapp; surveyed, streets built, and laid 
out in house lots, under the name of the "Home Association." Several lots in the 
square between East Foster, Sixth, Laurel and Larrabee Streets were- reserved, and 
they form what is now known as "The Common." Most of these lots were then sold, 
or soon afterwards, and have been very generally built upon. Additional tracts of land were 
afterwards bought and many dwellings built thereon. The whole region has come to be 
known as East Side. 

There were still other Lynde homesteads. The very old house on the corner of Glen 
and Russell Streets, is still in possession of the Lyndes, being owned by Franklin G. Lynde, 
who inherited it through a number of generations, from the original owner, Captain John 
Lynde, who inherited the land from Ensign Thomas Lynde. It was built about 1700, by 
Captain Lynde, for his son John, born April i, 1672; afterwards it was bought by Jabez 
Lynde, born January 10, 1744; from whom it descended to the late Jonathan Lj-nde, born 
January 15, 1785, grandfather of the present owner; and who died in 1869, aged eighty- 
five years. The oldest portion of this house, to which an addition was built many years 
ago, with its low-studded, beam-crossed ceilings, is two centuries old. In it was born the 
late Aaron Green, whose father once tilled the farm, which then embraced the estate now 
owned by heirs of the late Hon. Daniel Russell; also the land now Russell Park. [This 
house was burned recently.] [L. S. G.] 

Captain John Lynde also built for his son Thomas, Ixjrn Oct. 24, 1685, at about the same 
time, 1700, the old house situated about one hundred rods west of the previous one, being 
the last house on Washington Street l^efore reaching the Stoneham line. 

The Sprague families have ever been very prominent and intimately connected with 
the history of this town from its earliest days. It is ciuite certain that our territory was 
visited and traversed by the three brothers, Ralph Sprague, Richard Sprague and William 
S]irague, who came over from England, at their own cost. 

There is no doubt whatever, but that the Spragues and tiieir companions, were the 



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-271 



first civilized men whose feet trod ui)oii tlie soil, and wliose eyes gazed upon the territory 
now Melrose, and who explored it with the view of making a permanent settlement. 

As early as 1638, the Spragiies (having left Haleni and settled in Charlestown in 1629), 
both Ralph and Richard owned by allotment, a large tract of land near Kll Pond, naming 
it "Pond Fcilde." 

This covered a large ])art of what is now the; westerly part of the town. Rali)h Sprague 
had "Ninetie acres of land by estimation, more or lesse, scituate in Pond feilde," and Richard 
had 

"sixtie acres of land by estimation, more or lesse, scituate in pond feilde, bounded on the 
one side by Ralph Sprague, on the northeast by ell pond and the river [that comes through 
the meadow into h]ll pond. — Green,] and on the nortliwest by the comon." 

All this tcrritor,y Ix'longing to Charlestown, north of the Mystic River, was then called 
Mystic Side. 

These three Spragues were the sons of Edward Si)rague, a fuller, of Upway, County of 
Dorset, England. Ralph and Richard were both ijrominent in Charlestown affaii's, both 
being among the founders of the Church, . ^^ ^ 

members of the General Court, Selectmen ^^^P^^^^^i^t-*"^^ f^ Jfp^cAU^ ^-^^ 
for several years, and officers in the Boston ^^y^ 

Artillery Company. William removed to Hingham, where he also became prominent in 
town affairs. 

Richard and William Sprague signed the document "Tn. > ^ ^^^ C t^ 

estabUshing the first Board of Selectmen in Charles- f^^cK^^C^ ^/'TCt^***^— 
town, and Ralph was one of the eleven Selectmen then 
elected, February 10, 1635. 

In 1640, Thomas Coj^tmore, quite often spelled Coitmore, who became a freeman in 
that year, and who was one of the Deputies to the General Court from Charlestown, in 
1640 and 1641, built first a dam, and then a mill at Black Rock, on Three Myle Brook, 
M,ystic Side, on the power made by the water fiowing from Ell and Si)ot Ponds, joining 
as they did at Wj'oming; thus furnishing grist-mill i)rivileges to these increasing families 
of Mystic Siders. 

Years afterwards this site was utilized for manufacturing i)uri)oses. In 1806, tlu'ee 
brothers, George, Thomas and Ebenezer Odiorne, purchased the land and water-power 
at Black Rock, and established the manufacture of nails; being the first to cut and head 
them by one operation. William Barrett had previously, in 1803, established the silk- 
dyeing business, on a site near the Odiorne mill. 

Among those who left Charlestown and settled in Mystic Side, was Ralph Sprague, 
who built a homestead a little to the northwest of the Coytmore mill. l)>'ing in 
1660, he ])e(iuesthed this home- stead and its farm to his 

sons John and Phineas; and his farm in Pond Feilde, near O^^t/ p Or j-''^ Hl^y^^V'^ 
Ell Pond, to his soas Rich-ard and Samuel. /^^^^^ ^^1 O 

The oldest son, John, bought this Ell Pond farm of his brothers Richard and Samuel 
in 1652. The part belonging to Richai'd contained sixty-seven acres of ploughed and 
meadow land, and was the westerly half. His homest(>ad stood near Barrett Mount, on 
the southerly side of Maple Street, about twenty i-ods west of Vinton Str(>et. Th(> old 
cellar was visible within the memory of some now li\ing. John Sprague was one of the 
Selectmen of Maiden for many years, and a Ke])resentative to the General Court in i6go. 
He was one of the committee on behalf of Maiden to lay out the old road of 1653, from 
Winnesemit to Reading. 

John Sprague died June 25, 1692, aged 68, and by his will bequeathed his farm to his 
sons John and Phineas; John living on the old Maple Street place; and for Phin(>as a 
homestead was built out of the estate. This house stood where now stands the residence 

I ^2<) 1 



of L. Frank Hinckley, on West Foster Street, near the junction of Florence, Vinton and 
Maple Streets. The old well belonging to this homestead, with its ancient well-sweep, 
was on the opposite side of the street, near where now stands the beautiful and symmetrical 
elm tree; the spot is now covered by Florence Street, then only a pathway. This well 
was in use as late as 1850. 

Phineas Sprague, brother of John, died in 1736. He left two sons, Phineas and Samuel, 
to whom he bequeathed his two farms; and for Phineas he built, in 1720, a homestead on 
the spot where now stands the residence of the late Mrs. Liberty Bigelow, on West Foster 
Street, and to Samuel he gave the old homestead, which he afterwards deeded to his brother 
Phineas, in 1761. Middlesex Deeds, book 63, p. 198. This Phineas died in 1775; and 
by his will the property passed into the possession of his son Phineas, the fourth of the 
name, who was born in 1725, in this West Foster Street house, where he lived and died. 
He had several sons, to one of whom, Jonathan, he gave the old homestead built for Phineas, 
the first of the name; which, having stood a hundred years, he demolished, and built the 
house now occupied by Mr. Hinckley. Another son was also named Phineas, the fifth 
of that name; but at the death of the father, Phineas, in 1805, at the age of eighty years, 
his homestead passed into the possession of another son. Cotton Sprague, who owned it 
until 1830, when it was sold, and was no longer owned by the Spragues. Cotton Sprague 
was a prominent and influential citizen. He was a member of the Legislature for the years 
1823, '24, '25; and '26. In 1828 this place was bought by William Foster of Boston, who 
demolished the old house, and built the one now standing and owned by Mr. Decius 
Beebe. The very large, magnificent elms in front of this estate are more than a centurv 
old. 

Phineas seems to have been a favorite name in the Sprague families; and Phineas, the 
fourth, was the father of the late Cajjtain Phineas Sprague, who was born in 1777, during 
the Re\'olution, and who in 1812, built the house now standing, on Main Street, opposite 
Ell Pond, in which he spent a long life, dying in 1869, at the age of ninety-two years. He 
was a shoe manufacturer, and continued to make and carr_v his shoes to Boston until within 
the last year of his life. "He was a worthy citizen, highly esteemed and respected l^y all 
who knew him." 

One of the sons of this Phineas, was Ur. John Sprague, who was born January 13, 1754, in 
the old Foster Street homestead, but became a resident of Maiden Centre, where he practiced 
medicine for thirty years. He served as surgeon's mate in Col. Ebenezer's Bridge's Regi- 
ment, in the early part of the Revolutionary ^^ /y ^/n 
War; entered the naval service as surgeon, j^r-"^ /^yf^^ 
was taken prisoner in 1777. ^ U/t/?Zr}3'7^iyjr' CL^Q4^ 

The original way of travelling from these C*/ / ( J /^ ^§ 

Sprague houses to Maiden Centre, was in a >— ^ 

pathway which was nearly on a line of the present Cleveland Street, crossing Spot Pond 
Brook, thence over the Lynde farm to what is now Washington Street, the present "back- 
road" to Maiden. 

As were the Lyndes, almost the sole proprietors of what is now the southern territory 
of Melrose, so were the Greens, for a long while during the early years, settlers and owners 
of wJiat is now the Melrose Highlands, and a large part of Greenwood, in Wakefield, which, 
doubtless, received its name from that family; their land also extended westerly into Stone- 
ham as fai- as Doleful Pond. Then came another of the older famiUes, the Vintons, who, 
intermarrying with the Greens, in process of time came to possess a large part of the High- 
lands territory; holding it until about the time the Boston and Maine Railroad was built, 
in 1845, when, during the next few years, the land ownership almost wholly passed from 
lioth families into the possession of the fast growing population of that part of Melrose. 

The first settler in these Highlands was Thomas Green, who was born in England about 
1606, came to America in 1635, and to Maiden as early as October 28, 165 1, when his wife 
Elizabeth, and daughter bearing the same name, together with thirty-four others signed 

1.301 



The BOSTON TRANSCRIPT 

A Neiv England Inslitiition nilh 'rraditions High and I'rinciplcs Lofty — A 
l\l('KSf)appr ivith Creat AdKortising I'atronitgc and Manclons in Ihisincss Rcsnlts 



"I would as lief go without niy dinner as 
without the Boston Transcript," remarked the 
president of one of the largest industrial con- 
cerns in America. This man li\'es and breathes 
New Englaiul. I lis father before him believed 
that Boston was the center of the visible 
earth, and that tradition will be handed down 
to generations yet unborn. 

The Boston Transcript is the guide, philos- 
opher and friend of the men who now mould 
the financial destiny of Xew England — and 
for that matter of the United States. 

The circulation of the Transcript is that 
seductive element which compels admiration. 
The hallmark of superiority is the trade-mark 
of the Transcript. It is to New P^ngland what 
the London Times is to Old England. 

The Transcript is as rock-bound in its advo- 
cacy of Americanism — the true Americanism 
— as the London Times is the voice of En- 
gland's "die-hards." 



The Transcript belie\'es in the broader 
Americanism and the toleration which honest 
men give to creed and class. 

When it comes to the question of tariff, the 
(luestion of state rights, the question of Just 
taxation, you always find the Transcript on 
the right side of the fence. It believes in 
America first and always. 

When it comes to residts in advertising, the 
Transcrijit shines brightly. There are other 
papers in Boston with circulation considerably 
larger, but the circulation of the Transcript is 
a three-cent-a-copy, "pay - as - you -enter" 
kind. 

As a matter of interest, if Boston represents 
one-sixteenth of the wealth of the coimtry, it 
is 16 to 1 that the people who have this wealth 
buy goods that are advertised in the Trans- 
cript. 

— Priiif firs'' I Ilk. 




The ni<)st adequate. Sanitary ami up-io-dale milk i-slahlisliinent in Melrose. Milk 
friun this station is produ<'e4l on honor. 

FORBES BROTHERS 36 Warren St., Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

1:511 



a petition to the General Court, in IxOialf of Maiden's minister, Rev. Marniaduke Matthews, 
praying for an (;xcuse for sonic of his (>ri'ors and failings. He was one of the Selectmen of 
Maiden in 1653 and 1678, and served many times on the Grand Jury of the County of 
Middlesex. He came into possession of his farm at the Highlands in the following manner: 
Thomas Coytmore, who first stttled in Charlestown, where he became quite an extensive 
land-owner, and where he was a Selectman, and Representative to the General Court, and 
who built the mill at Mystic Side in 1640, l)efore spoken of, came into possession of one 
hundred and hfty acres of land lying north of FJl Pond. The following oixler gives the 
only instance known where the name of our Pond is given as I'^lme, as it is here in the margin, 
but not in the body of the order : 

"1648 
Ordered to lay out young "Thc 20th dav of the ^d of Marcli it was agreed to entreat of 

Tlios. Coitinorc's ^ ^ 

two lots by Elmo Pond. Bros. Robt. Hale and Thomas Lind to lay out young 1 hos. Coit- 
more's two lots by Ell pond, he to send one to go with them to lielp tliem." 

Coytmore died in 1648. His widow married first, Ciov. John Wiuthro]); aii<l alter his 
death in 1649, ^'^c married John Cogan, of /"^ " .^ ^ j ^ 

Boston, and they came into possession of J/W) Yl^^^^^^tC^ * ^0''\r^^ 

these one hundred and fifty acres. Four (J 

years later, in 1653, John and Martha Cogan sold and deeded one-half of this farm to 
Thomas Green. He built his homestead, a block house, on what is now the centre of 
Pratt Street, halfway between the present Franklin Street and Highland Avenue. It 
was built strongly, and used as a garrison and place of refuge in times of trouble between 
the early settlers of that region and the Indians. This old house was demolished about 
the year 1800. 

Thomas Green, was a passenger on the ship Paull, which sailed from London, and arrived 
in \'ii-ginia, July 6, 1635. Thomas Green Ijequeathed his farm to his sons, Capt. William 
and Henry, one-half each. William was made freeman in 1668; was member of the Maklen 
Church, Captain of a Military Company, and Selectman of Maiden for the years 1678, 
1683 and 1702. Wilham sold his half to his brother Samuel in 1670, and from that time 
Samuel occupied "the old mansion house." In 1684, he bought the other half of the farm 
of his brother Henry. 

Afterwards this homestead reverted to John Green, son of William. He was a select- 
man of Stoneham in 1735. This was after this part of North Maiden had been set off to 
Stoneham, which, years later, came back to Melrose. John's will mentions his son John, 
who has "my dwelling-house and farm and the land adjoining, that lyeth on the west side 
of the country road that leadeth from Maiden to Reading, that was my grandfather's;" 
and son Jonas has "all my land on the east of the country road aforesaid." He built thereon 
a house, just this side of the Wakefield line, on Main Street, which disappeared a few years 
since. 

John Green left his in-operty to his son, John, who beciueathed it to his only son, John, 
who was a bachelor. Before the death of the latter, he devised it to William Green, or, 
more truly to his wife, Abigail Green, who lived with him many years, says the Vuiton 
Genealogy, and took care of him in his old age, till the very end. At the death of Abigail 
Green, Nov. 6, 1848, she left the property to her sister Sarah, widow of Aaron Green, who 
was a descendant in the fifth generation from the Original Thomas, by another line. At 
her death the property went to her daughter A))igail, who married Edmund B. Soutiiwick. 
This daughter, Abigail, was thc sister of the late Aaron Green, wlio was l)orn in the old 
Lynde house, on Russell Street, March 14, 1802, and who died April 23, 1882, eighty-two 
years of age. Mr. Green served several years as one of the Assessors of Melrose; was 
also on the School Committee. 

There were other descendants of the original Thomas Green, wlio li\etl on other fai-ms 
on the territory first Charlestown, then Maiden, then Stoneham, and then Melrose. Others 
lived in Maiden proper. Only tlie ownersliip of the homestead of the first settler is here 
traced. 



In 1682, John, Henry and Samuel Green, bou^Iit of Thomas Hohinson and John Floyd, 
the northerly i)art of a farm north of I<]11 Pond, Ijounded easterly l)y the "Jiedding highway, 
northerly and westerly on the Common land southerly t)y y^- said Greens land." It was 
in what is now Melrose Highlands. On this farm was built the homestead for John Green. 
Henry Green's farm and house was situated near the corner of Franklin and Vinton Streets, 
and it afterward ]iassed into the possession of the Vintons. Isaac, son of al)Ove Samuel, 
had his homestead on what is now Ashland Street, a few rods south of Franklin Street. 
In 1758, he sold his estate to Thomas and Hannah Vinton. Hannah was Isaac's daughter. 
The farm consisted of nineteen acres, and was "l)ounded northerly and northeasterly by a 
Lane that goes from my dwelling house to the County Road." This line is now Ashland 
Street, and the County road Franklin Street. 

Another Isaac Green, a grandson of Thomas, lived about half a mile west of the High- 
lands Station. He was a Selectman of Stoneham in the years of 1745, '5,S. J^i'^'l '58. 

Among these other descendants were the following who lived in Stoneham: Deacon 
Joseph Green, whose farm was near where the Highlands Station now is. He was a Select- 
man of Stoneham in 1747, '49, '54, '5 and '8. April 16, 1770, he sold half of his farm to 
Thomas Vinton, and April 15, 1777, the other half to Ezra Vinton, a brother of Thomas; 
Captain Josiah Green, who was born in 1735, antl lived on the county road from Stoneham 
to Lynn about three-ciuarters of a mile west of the Highlands Station, on Howard Street. 
He was Selectman 1781, '6, '7, 1791 and '92. His first wife, Elizabetli Green, died in 1798, 
having borne him eight children. He then, at the age of 64, married Sarah Skinner, a 
woman twenty-two years of age, and forty-two years younger than himself. 

Many descendants of Thomas Green settled in Maiden proper, and attained iirominence 
in civic, town and military affairs. In the will of one of them. Deacon Daniel Green, grand- 
son of Thomas, born in 1681, he beciueathed to his wife Mary, his "negro woman and child- 
ren." Another grandson, Jacol), born in 1689, kept a, diary, or "book of meniorabilia: 
Jacob Green, his Writing Book," which is still preserved. It is a small leather-bound 
volume, 33/2 '^Y 6 inches containing about 140 pages. It is mostly in the handwriting of 
Jacob, but partly in that of his son, Kev. Jacob Green. 

A great-grandson of Thomas was William Green, born in 1683. He was a carpenter. 

As has been seen, this original Green farm was situated first in Charlestown, then in 
Maiden, then set off to Stoneham, and then, in 1853, it was set off to Melrose; and it was 
in the possession of the Greens for over two centuries. 

The late Elbridge Green, who Iniilt the house now standing at No. 467 Main Street, 
was the son of Reul)en, a descendant of the sixth generation from the original Thomas 
Green. He was born in 1811, and died Feb. 21, 1898, aged eighty-seven years. He held 
several town offices. He was the first Town Clerk after Melrose was incorporated. He 
served as Motlerator at one Town Meeting, as Assessor for three years, and was on the 
School Committee two or three years. He was an upright and exemi)lary citizen; "a 
gentleman of the old school." 

There are still Green descendants living at tlie Highlands; among them Levi W. Green, 
of the seventh generation, now living on Fi-anklin Street, whose father, Peter Green, lived 
on "Green Lane," some of this land is still owned i)y the Greens. Another is Mrs. Emily 
G. Cochrane, daughter of the late Aaron Green, and motlier of Mauiice G. Cochrane, 
formerlj^ one of our Park Connnissioners. 

Captain Joiiatlian Green, of "Green Lane," was of tlie fourth generation from 
Thomas. He was a leading man in Stoneliam foi- many years; captain of a military 
company; Selectman twenty years; Town Clerk and Treasurer twenty-five years; member 
of the Convention assembled in Boston, in 1788, to I'atify the Constitution of the United 
States. His farm contained 215 acres. His house, still standing, and occupied by a descend- 
ant, is near the line between Melrose and Stoneham. It was built early in the i8th century, 
and has been ()C('U))ied by five generations of Jonathan Greens. Tradition says that the 
builder utilized one end of his house for a while as a barn. 



Previous to the time of setting off the ten families living on the territory now Greenwood 
to Reading, in 1727, some of those living on territory farther south, now Melrose, were dis- 
satisfied with their Church privileges; and May 15, 1722, it is recorded: 

"John Green Att ye farms [the original homestead at the Highlands] Samll Green Jonathan 
barritt [between Upham and Porter Streets] And seural othars yt petisiond with Them: doe 
desier: Abatement on Ther ministars Reats: by Reson as they say They doe liue more 
conuenant To Go [to] Reding meting Then To maiden meting: 

It was putt To vote To see whethar ye Town will abate Those petitionars The one half 
of There ministars Reates. 

And it past in j^e negitiue : 

And just before the division was made this action was taken. 

"it was put to vote whether the Town will have two meating houses in this Town and ye 
vote was past in ye negetive. it was put to vote whether ye Town will Alow ye people in 
ye north Eand of this Town some money to help them to provid themselve with preaching 
in ye winter sesons and it past in ye negative."" 

But a little later. May 22, it was voted: 

"that ye teen famelys yt have petioned to be Laid off from this Town, unto ye Town of 
Reding, have Liberty to goe to Reding with there Estates Acording to their petion." 

This left the Greens of the woods, Barretts, Uphams and others still unaccommodated 
and with rates unabated; and yet many years were they necessitated to go to Maiden 
centre for town and church privileges. 

All the Maiden and Melrose Barretts descended from James Barrett, who was 
born in England in 1615, came to New England in 1635, and settled in Charlestown. 
His name does not appear among those who were admitted freemen; but the Charles 
town Records of 1643, state that "James Barrett was admitted Townsman 'with manifestation 
yt he is not to expect any allotmt of land.' " By industry and enterprise he accumulated 
considerable property; and there are upon record many conveyances of real estate to and 
from him. Li a deed to Peter Tufts in 1653 he is called "Plantor." His farm was in Mystic 
Side, in that portion of it now the city of Everett, not far from where the Eastern Railroad 
crosses the main street from Maiden to Boston. In 1656, he was chosen Highway Surveyor 
in Charlestown, for Mystic Side. 

James Barrett died in 1672. His son James, born in 1644, settled at the north end of 
Boston, near Copp's Hill, and his son James, born in 1672, came into possession of his grand- 
father's farm at Mystic Side. He became a prominent man in Maiden, serving as Select- 
man for several years, and acting on many important committees. Among his possessions 
was a saw-mill at Spot Pond. The Bi-Centennial Book of Maiden, has the following items 
connected with this James Barrett: 

"In 1708, April 2, Deacon Greenland has liberty to Ijuild a pew. It was voted at that 
time, "That if james Baret will make up the twenty aight shillings, which the town is in 
detted to him for worke at the meting house, forty shilhngs, then he shall have as conveneant 
seat in the meting hous as his naberas have." Among other necessary appendages of an 
old-fashioned meeting-house in New England were the horse-blocks and stables. The first 
notice we find of these in Maiden, is under date of Dec. g, 1698; it was voted "that Tryall 
Nubry, Simon Grovar, Samuell Buckman, william pain, james Barrit, and John Greenland, 
hath the priveleg of a peece of land of 24 foots long and 9 foots wide, from ye South west 
corner of ye parsonage garding westwardly along by ye stone wall, Granted them by a 
town vote for to set a stable to shelter their horses on the Sabath days." 

Deacon Jonathan Barret, a brother of James, born in 1678, was also a Selectman of 
Maiden for many years, served on numerous committees, and was many times Moderator 

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of the Town Meetings. These two brothers took opposite sides in the long and bitter con- 
test in Maiden, which grew out of the location for the new meeting-house, which was finall\- 
settled by building it on the spot where recently stood the Universalist Church of Maiden. 
Deacon Barrett came lo North Maiden about the yeai- 1700, and his farm and homesteail 
was situated on the "East Side;" the house being about half-way between Upham and 
Porter Streets. Its site, with tlie stone filled cellar-hole, still exists. It is on the liighest 
rise, a httle way to the west of School Street. In 17 14, Mr. Barrett was one of the petition- 
ers for the laying out of Upham Street. Porter Street was than called Barrett Lane. He 
was one of the Selectmen of Maiden for the years 1725, '26, '3^, '36, '37. '3^. '39- '40, <'"i*l 
'44. He died in 1749, aged seventy-two years, and 
Jonathan's son Joseph came into pos.session of the 
old homestead and its farm. 

Joseph Barrett died in 1758. His son Josepli, aft(>r becoming of age,- bought the old 
homestead, built by his grandfather, Jonathan, of the other heirs. In 1781, he bought an 
adjoining estate of John Gould, which was si aiate 1 on the north side or Porter Street, then 
Barrett Lane. The old Gould house was enlarged and im])roved by Joseph Barrett, and 
it became his homestead in which he passed the rest of his days. This was the estate long 
occupied l)y the late Charles Porter, and now owned by Albert M. Smith. An uncle of 
this Joseph, James Barrett, owned a farm which joined the homestead farm of Joseph, on 
the east and north side of Porter Street. He sold to James Nichols, and the house was 
burned a few years ago. At the death of Joseph his landed property consisted of his home- 
stead, with thirty-one acres, the old Jonathan Barrett homestead lot of twentj^-one acres, 
the Pine Hill lot of fourteen acres, and a few other small lots. 

Joseph brought up a large family of children on this Barrett Lane homestead. The 
oldest son was Captain Jonathan Barrett, who was ))orn in 1775, and who made his home 
in the western part of the town, on a farm that came into his jwssession in the following 
manner: In 1699, John Sprague sold the west part of his farm to Deacon John Pratt. 
It contained eighty acres. The house had been built many years and was the one his grand- 
father bought of his brother Richard in 1652. It was situated on the south side of what is 
known as Barrett Mount, about twenty rods west of the corner of Vinton and Foster Streets. 
After the death of John Pratt, in 1742, the property came into the ]3ossession of Isaac Green, 
who married Mary, the daughter of Pratt. Tradition says that Green demolished the 
old Sprague house, which had stood a hundred years or more, and used the materials in 
building what came to be known as the "Mountain House," corner of Vinton and Maple 
Streets, recently removed. The farm and new homestead then became the property of 
Benoni Vinton, who married Mary, the daughter of Isaac Green. She afterwards niairied 
Josejili Lynde, and when a widow sokl this estate to Captain Jonathan Barrett, in 1806. 
The homestead was then enlarged, and l)ecame one of the finest residences in the north })art 
of Maiden. It was around and near this house that was situated what used to be known, 
eighty or ninety years ago, as "the village;" and here, from diftei'ent parts of the sjjarscdy 
settled portion of the town, would congregate the people, for games, social chat and amuse- 
ments. The nearest house to "the village," other than the two Sprague houses, on Foster 
Street, was that of John Larra))ee, the great-grandfather of the present John Larrabee. 
who for twenty-one years was our efficient Town Clerk, aftei'wards one of th(> Sewer Com- 
missioners, City Treasurer in i()00, and Mayor in 1901-2. The Larrabee farm consisted 
of twenty-six acres, and was bought of the heirs of i^enoni \'inton, in 1805. It extended 
to Youle Street on the noi'tli, and was bounded by \'inlon Sti'(>et on the east. He built 
his homestead on lli<' corner of Vinton and Otis Streets, which is still standing, and l)elongs 
to the heirs of the lat(> Smith W. Nichols. 

In this old "Mountain house" of ('apt. Barrett, was born a large family of children; 
among them, May 25, 1818, tlie lat(> Artemas Barrett, to whom this history is indebted for 
many of its genealogical items connected with its old families. He died Jan. 12, 1897, 

139] 





^ 



t 






^ >3. Y 



being nearly seventy-nine years of age. He was a highly respected and honored citizen. 
He held many town offices, and was a Representative to the General Court in 1861. 

At the death of Capt. Jonathan Barrett, the estate passed into the hands of his widow, 
Mrs. Fanny Barrett, who bought out the heirs, with the exception of her two minor sons, 
James and Artemas. In 1845, she conveyed the land in front of her house to these two 
sons, who, in the same year, conveyed the farm portion to Jeremiah Martin, for $10,000 
who established, and for many years carried on an extensive nursery business, on a portion 
of it, the balance being laid out in house lots, and dwellings built thereon. These nursery 
grounds were sold, after the death of Mr. Martin, and are now covered with many streets 
and residences. The old mansion house remained in possession of Mrs. Barrett until her 
death, in 1874. It has since been sold, removed to the corner of Tappan and Sanford 
Streets, and become a tenement house. 

UPHAM — The name is an ancient one. It was one of the first to be used as a surname, 
being found in the English Charter Rolls — which were "registers of royal grants of lands, 
honors, dignities, hereditary offices, liberties," etc. — -as early as 1208. It came from 
an estate that bore that name, such a place being mention in the Dornesday Book, as belong- 
ing to the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066); and there are places in England 
today bearing that name, and in one of them, situated sixty-five miles from London, was 
born Edward Young, the author of Night Thoughts. The name Upham was probably 
formed l\y uniting the Anglo Saxon words up, high, and ham, a home, dwelling oi- hamlet, 
meaning thus: "the Home on the Hill." 

John Upham, the progenitor of all that bear his name in America, was born in Bicton 
Parish, on the River Otter, in 1507, and came to this country in 1635. He first settled 
in Weymouth, which town he represented several times in the General Court. In 1642, he 
was appointed one of the Commissioners to treat with the Indians in obtaining a title to 
the Weymouth territory. He removed to Maiden in 1648, where he became one of its 
leading citizens. As early as 165 1 he was one of the Selectmen, an office he held several 
years. He was several times appointed Commissioner "to settle the lesser legal matters 
of Weymouth and Maiden." He was also deacon of the Church for twenty-four j^ears. 
The following is the inscription on his tombstone, /" ^ n __ _^ 

which is near the centre of the old Bell Rock Cemetery ^O C^Tl rVjOld4n<r~~' 
in Maiden: -^ C^ U ^"^^ 

"Here lyes ye Body of John Upham aged 84 y^^. Died Febry 25, 1681." 

His son, Lieut. Phineas Upham, born in 1635, soon after his parents' arrival in America, 
was an active officer in King Philip's War. The headquarters of our troops in the Con- 
necticut Valley, during this war, at this time, was at Hadley. Major Pynchon, not feeling 
equal to the task of commanding longer, resigned. Captain Samuel Appleton was appointed 
by the General Court to take his place, and Lieut. Upham of Maiden was selected to bear 
through the intervening wilderness the necessary dispatches. Following is the order: 

"Sr Wee have ordered Lt Upham to lead up to you 30 men and do fui'ther order that 
Lt Scill be dismissed home to his family, and his souldjers to make up some of ye companie 
as yt chiefe Conmiander shall order and ye above named Lt Upliam to be Lt under Capt 
Wayte. These for Major John Pynchon." 

This was dated Sept. 4, 1675. He arrived at his destination on the 12th, and from that 
time was in active service, conducting many scouting parties and expeditions. At the 
battle of the Narraganset Fort, Dec. 19, 1675, when one thousand Indian warriors were 
slain or wounded and eighty-six English killed and one hundred and fifty wounded, Lieut. 
Upham was severely wounded being in conmiand of his company after the death of Capt. 
Johnson. Of this sanguinary fight the historian, Hubbard, says: 

"It is hard to say who accjuitted themselves be.st in that day's service either the soldiers 
for their manlike valor in fighting, or the Commanders for their wisdom and courage; lead- 
ing on in the Face of Death." 

[4^21 




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After lingering some ten montlis from the effects of this wound, Lieut. IJpham died, 
in October, 1676, at the age of 41 years. He was higlily respected as a citizen, and was 
eminent in the military service. 

In battle Lieutenant Upham exhibited the character of a brave man and ]:)atriot, pur- 
chasing with mortal wounds the palm of vic- 
tory; and the government was not unmindful 
of his great sacrifice but bore testimon,y upon 
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L-uiiiiifiL'i 01 a uiave man auti painoi, pur- 



He was the direct ancestor of the Upham famil,y in America being the only son of John 
LTpham that left posterity. [Through his son, Nathaniel, he was an ancestor of the Gould 
family by the marriage of his daughter Lois to James Hill in 1727.] [L. S. G.] 

One of his children, Phineas, the eldest son, became a prominent citizen of Maiden. 
For fourteen years he was one of the Selectmen; Town Treasurer for several years; deacon 
of the Church; several times Moderator of the Town Meeting; and for five years Representa- 
tive to the General Court. He died in October /-^""^^^ /^ / /*^-w^ 
1720, at the age of 62 years, and was buried in ^ y^C^'H (J^-^t4^ ^JOTl/VptV 
the cemetery at Maiden. // ' 

It was his oldest son, born June 10, 1682, and bearing the same name, Phineas, a favorite 
one with the Uphams, who came to Melrose, then North Maiden, and settled on Upham 
Hill, in the year 170.3. At the same time it is recorded, that "Phineas Upham and Tamzen 
Hill were joined in marriage, ye 23d of November, 1703, by M^. Wigglesworth;" and from 
them have descended all of the man.y Melrose LTphams, and many others who have gone 
to other parts of the land, some of whom have ])ecome eminent as lawyers, ministers, authors, 
and statesmen. 

Very soon after his marriage he l)uilt his homestead, and establishetl his home "in their 
primitive dwelling on the wooded crest of Upham Hill." 

This was situated on what is now the corner of Upham and Highview Avenue, where 
it remained until within a very few years, when it was removed a few rods south and now 
stands on Waverly Avenue. 

Here Phineas and Tamzen Upham lived, and l)rought \\\) a large family of seven sons 
and six daughters. (See note by me on page 50 regarding this house.) [L. S. G.] 

One of his sons, Jabez, became a doctor and settled in Brookfield, Massachusetts. 

Phineas was one of the Selectmen of Maiden for several years; two years Assessor, and 
many years -Moderator of the Town Meetings. In the year 1707-8 he is mentioned as 
Ensign Phineas Upham. He cUed in 1766, at the age of eighty-three years. His wife died 
two years later, at the same age. 

The oldest son of Phineas, born Jan. 14, 1708, was also named Phineas. He died in 
Maiden, July 17, 1738, of the malignant throat distemper which prevailed in that year. 
Amos, another son of Phineas, born in 17 18, succeeded to a portion of his father's acres 
and the old homestead still staiidlng; and, in turn, his son, also named Amos, born in 
1741, came into possession. (See pages 8, 28,32,34,38,40) This Amos and his brother 
William, were in Capt. Benjamin Blaney's Company, which marched to Watertown "upon 
the alarm on the igt'i of April, 1775, and from thence to resist the minesteral troops." 

It cannot be stated just when this old house was built, but evidently soon after the 
Phineas Upham house of 1703. Concerning this house, Miss Mary Elizalieth Upham, a 
direct descendant in the ninth generation, wrote the following description in iSgo, for the 
Upham Genealogy; The Descendants of John Upham, of Massachusetts: 

The original house must have been quite small. A family tradition has taught us that 
it little more than covered the present cellar, which extends under less than half the build- 
ing. A huge chimney — with a fire place ten feet long, and as high as the main room of 
the dwelling — rivaled the house itself in size. 

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But it was not long before the family outgrew its narrow quarters. Then was the 
first building supplemented by such additions that it came to be a large, substantial dwelling, 
thirty feet in length, and two stories high toward the south. On the north the roof sloped 
nearly to the ground. Later still (and yet so long ago that no one now living remembers 
it) the sloping roof was raised, so that the house is nearly two stories high on the north, 
today. In the old garret the original sloping rafters may yet be seen. 

The front door of the house is away from the street on the south side. Crossing its 
smooth door-stone we enter a small passage-way from which a few stairs, with two-square 
landings, lead to the upper floor. At the right a low door-way admits us to a large room, 
eighteen feet square, i^resumably the "best room" of the house. Its low wainscot, and 
high mantel, the broad beams across the ceiling — but a short distance above our heads 
— - and the long hearth of the primative fireplace — all point to the age of the structure. 

On the left of the front entry is another room, much like the first. The center of the 
house is occupied by the hugli chimney, and on the north are the smaller rooms. The oak 
beams are in many cases eighteen inches thick; and the walls are filled in witli bricks and 
clay. The chimney is made of bricks of many sizes, and clay instead of mortar is used. The 
fire-places have been made smaller within a century, but the original hearths — in some of 
which square tiles are placed — are still left." 

Amos' son Asa, ])orn Aj)ril 29, 1785, was the successor in the ownersliip of this old ances- 
tral homestead; and here, under this same roof-tree, he passed a long life, dying in 1869, 
at the age of eighty-four years. 

He could well remember when Maiden had but one churcli, where all the town could 
worship God, and when that part now Melrose had but one small, rough schoolhouse, with 
its rough seats and large open fireplace and the school kept only two months in the year, 
the town very sparsely settled, with its narrow, rough and crooked pathway, travelled only 
on foot or horseback. . . . Mr. Ujihani was l:)lest with a competence of this world's goods, 
but with what was far better, good healtli from the cradle almost to the grave. And what 
was still better, he has during his long life, travelled in the pathway of virtue and upright- 
ness, and has gone down in his ripe old age to his final resting})lace with an unblemished 
reputation, honored and respected by all who knew him. 

And in this homestead a large family of children, of the eiglith generation, was born; 
among them the late Eri, Asa, Orne and Benjamin II. Uphani. Orne, born 8ept. 25, 1820, 
succeeded his father as owner of the farm, whereon he spent a long, cjuiet, unostentatious 
life as a farmer, dying Ai)ril 2, 1894, aged seventy-four years. 

Eri Upham and AsaUpham, brothers, born respectively Sept. 7, 1813, and March 31, 1816, 
lived on Upham Street, near the old homestead, where they passed long lives; Eri dying 
July 2, 1897, at the age of 84 years, and Asa, Dec. 15, 1899, aged 83 years. 

Another brother, Benjamin R., born April 5, 1823, lived for many years in the old Emerson 
mansion, on the corner of Main and Emerson Streets, where his widow, Rachal E., still 
lives. He died Nov. 30, 1892, at the age of seventy years. His son Frank Richardson, 
born Dec. 18, 1852, is Chairman of the Board of Assessors of Melrose. 

Besides the Uphams already spoken of as having lived in the old liomestcads on the 
original acres of the first Melrose Phineas, he had numerous other descendants who lived 
in other homesteads on Upham Hill. The Rev.P^rederick Upham, D.D., "The Nestor of 
the M. E. Church," was the son of Samuel Sprague Upham, and was born October 4, 1799, 
and died March 20, 1891, at the age of ninety-two years. His brother. Freeman Upham, 
born December 7, 181 1, for many years had his homestead on Main Street, and until the 
day of his death, Maj^ 25, 1900, was hale and heart}^; he walked our streets during his last 
years with the appearance of a much younger man. 

Another branch of the Upham residents on this hill, and descendants from the original 
Phineas, was Jesse, son of Timothy, who was born August 20, 17 10, and of the fifth genera- 
tion. Jesse was born March 18, 1745, and died August 23, 1825, at the age of eighty years. 

1481 



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SAMUEL G. ADAMS, Brown & 

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FREDERICK AYER, American 

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JAMES A. BAILEY, Jr., Attorney 

and Counsellor-at-Law 
CHARLES G BANCROFT, Pres. 
THOMAS BARBOUR, 

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ELMER J BLISS, President Regal 

Shoe Co. 
EDWIN P. BROWN, Gen. Mgr. 

United Shoe Machinery Co. 



ALONZO N. BURBANK, Interna- 
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HENRY V. CUNNINGHAM, At- 
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WENDELL ENDICOTT, Endicott- 
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OLIVER M. FISHER, President 
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JOHN M. GRAHAM, Capitalist 

WALTER B. HENDERSON, John 
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JOHN M LONGYEAR, Mineral 
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GEORGE B. H. MACOMBER, G. 
B. H. Macomber Co. , Builders 



HENRY L. JEWETT, Vice-Pres. 
ROBERT M. MORSE, Attorney 

and Counsellor-at-Law 
WILLIAM A. MULLER, William 

A. Muller & Co., Insurance 
JAMES J. PBELAN, Hornblower 

& Weeks, Bankers 
EDMUND H. TALBOT, Attorney 

and Counsellor-at-Law 
LOREN D. TOWLE, Real Estate 
HERBERT F. WINSLOW, Real 

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SIDNEY W. WINSLOW, Jr., 

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CHARLES G. BANCROFT President 

FREDERICK AYER, Vice-President 

HENRY L. JEWETT, . .. Vice-Pres. and Sec. 
CLIFFORD B. WHITNEY, Treasurer 



A. FRANCIS HAYDEN, Trust Officer 

EDWARD H. GRAHAM, .. •• Asst. Treasurer 

CHESTER B. PIERCE, Asst. Treasurer 

HOWARD NORTON, Auditor 



Wl 



Jesse's son, also named Jesse, born November 8, 1775, lived in the original Phineas Upham 
homestead. He died April 5, i860, aged eighty-five years. 

[This Jesse was a very ardent Methodist and exceedingly quaint and eccentric. He 
is well remembered by the writer. The house he lived in originally stood on what is now 
the corner of Highview Avenue and Upham Street and was built about, (perhaps a httle 
before) 1703. In my boyhood days I was in it many times. It was without doubt the 
first one built on one of the old Range-Ways, now called Upham Street. It was bought 
about 45 years ago by a Lynn man who moved it to Waverlj' Avenue where it now stands 
with no outward traces of its more than two centuries. [L. S. G.] ] 

Jesse's son, Joshua Upham, born Dec. 27, 1806, built his house on Upham Street, near 
East Street. Joshua died January 16, 187 1, at the age of sixty-four years. His brother 
George, born October 4, 1810, lived in his grandfather Jesse's house. Here he dwelt, cultiva- 
ing these acres, until February 13, 1872, when he died at the age of sixty-two years. His 
homestead was on the corner of Upham Street and Waverly Avenue, and must have been 
built at least one hundred and fifty years ago. 

Still another Upham farm and homestead built in 1876, was situated on Upham Street, 
that of Nathan Upham, son of Amos, born February 28, 1781, and died in 1845, aged 64 
years. This was on the north side, between Upham and Porter Streets. This farm was 
inherited by his two sons, Eli and Albert, two bachelors, who tilled its soil for many years; 
and finally lost possession because they would not set back a small carriage or tool house in 
order to widen Upham Street; being ordered so to do, first by the town authorities, and then 
by the County Commissioners. As they were determined not to move it, it was done by 
the State, the necessary tax levied, refusal to pay, citation in Court, non-appearance, de- 
falcation decreed, and the estate sold to Nathaniel P. Jones, and thus passing out of the 
possession of the Uphams forever. Quite a portion of the farm has been sold in house lots, 
and many of our finest residences built thereon. 

The brick house, on what is now known as the "Parker Place," was also built by an 
Upham, Joshua, son of the senior Jesse, in 1810. He was a master-mason of Salem. The 
road leading from the present Upham Street, just to the east of this residence, built in 
1796, was the old way to Saugus and Lynn. This Upham house was sold sometime during 
the war of 181 2, to a Mr. Peale. 

Time was when the old original Phinetis, the Amos Upham, and the George Upham 
houses were the only ones existing on what is now ITpham Street, once Upham Lane, or the 
old county road to Saugus. 

Just over the brow of the hill, at the extreme end of East Foster Street, there exists 
what may be called an Upham Cemetery, but what remains visible has more the sem- 
blance of a tomb; the door has disappeared, and the entrance has been walled up. Here 
were buried the two Jesse Uphams, father and son, their wives and many of their children. 
There was also entombed, Thomas Smith, who married a daughter of Jesse Upham and 
his wife, also Mr. Towle, who once lived on the Parker Place. There were graves out- 
side the tomb, in which burials were allowed; among them, a negro named Johnson and 
his wife, and quite a number of others. These graves were entirely obliterated, years ago, 
by plowing and cultivating the soil. The tract embraced some ten thousand feet, and 
originally fenced; but that also cUssappcared, and nothing but the face of the undoored 
tomb now remains, in an open, unprotected field. 

[Johnson the negro had a cabin down in a thicket near a spring now in the vicinity of 
Grove Street and Cumner Avenue, — There he lived alone until he attained a great age. 
My father attended him in his last sickness and we were both present at the funeral. This 
was in the "forties" All bodies from the old tomb have been re-interred in Wj'oming 
Cemetery. [L. S. G.]] 

On the north side of Lynde Street, a few rods east of where Summer Street intersects, 
there once stood a very old house, built by John Pratt, who, at his death in 1743, gave it 

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with twelves acres of land to his grandson David Green, who sold it to Amos Upham. Mr. 
Upham was a blacksmith; the only one in this part of the town; and his shop was nearby 
his dwelling. These were situated on the original 1653 road. In those days, besides 
shoeing horses and cattle, and repairing carts, a great variety of work was done at the 
blacksmith's shop; here all kinds of agricultural implements then used were made; plough- 
shares, axes, spades, hoes, scythes, etc.; also all kinds of household utensils; and a black- 
smith's shop was a much frequented place. 

This property passed into the hands of William Upham, of the fifth generation, in 1777. 
He was born August 7, 1747, and was a soldier in the Revolution; being in the battle at 
Bunker Hill, and at White Plains, where he was wounded and crippled for life. 

On the opposite side of the street, on the rising ground, stands the little one-story Dolly 
Upham house, built by William Upham, in 181 2, for his son William. In 1845, this prop- 
erty passed out of the possession of the Uphams. 

The HOWARDS were among the original families occupj'ing the territory of Melrose. 
Peter Tufts, who seems to have been a land speculator, owing large tracts of land in this 
region, sold, in 1663, to Samuel Howard, then of Charlestown, his farm land, which was 
situated in what is now the centre of Melrose. It is described in the Middlesex Deeds, book 
3, page 276, as Ivnng at Ell Pond, and is embraced within the following bounds: 

"Northerly by sd Ell Pond, easterly by the brook from sd Ell Pond and southerly by 
the brook running from Spot Pond, westerly by John Sprague's farme." 

This latter line has been described as running northerly from Spot Pond brook, through 
Cottage Street, crossing Foster Street and the railroad east of Mr. Decius Beebe's 
house, and so on a straight line to the head of Ell Pond. Mr. Howard, who came 
from England in 1635, ^^ ^^^^ •'^'^ip "Elizal^eth," built a house on the border of Ell Pond, 
on the east side and near its outlet. He also built a dam across the outlet, and erected 
a sawmill thereon. Samuel Howard died about 1681, his estate passing into the possession 
of his heirs. His son Samuel had the homestead of twenty acres, with the sawmill, bounded 
north by Ell Pond and south by a line a few rods north of Winthrop and Vine Streets. His 
son Jonathan had the remainder, lying south of this line, and afterwards came into pos- 
session of this mill, as is evidenced by the following sale, dated Jan. 8, 1721: 

"Jonathan Howard conveys to Samuel Howard, wheelwright, one acre of land lying 
near the dwelling house of said Samuel Howard, with the grist or cornmill that stands on 
the land with the mill dam and all the pri\'ilegc belonging to the mill." 

It would seem that this mill, after a service of fifty years, exhausted the timber in its 
vicinity and was converted into a gristmill, [in ancient times a tannery existed there.] 

[L. S. G.] 

Mary Howard, wife of Jonathan, came into possession of eight acres of land with the 
buildings thereon, on the east side of Ell Pond. The house here referred to is the one which, 
until the latter part of 1900, stood on the corner of Porter and Lebanon Streets. This 
was a very old house. The curb of the old well still stands, but the sweep has disappeared. 
Benjamin Howard sold one-half of it to Joseph Lynde, in 1762, mentioning in the deed 
that he purchased it of his father in 1740. This estate passed into the hands of Jonathan 
Howard, who sold to Amos Howard in 1786; and he sold to the late Nathaniel Howard, 
so long the principal undertaker of Melrose. He was born in this house, with a large family 
of brothers and sisters. One of them, Atalanta Howard, married Isaac Emerson, who 
built his homestead, wherein he passed a long life, where now stands the handsome parsonage 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on Main Street. Another, James, built the house 
on the corner of Pleasant and Summer Streets, Maiden. 

Nathajiiel Howard, son of Jonathan, built a house at an early period in the rear of the 
present Eatsman's Block, on Main Street, about fifteen rods east of said street, near the 
Ell Pond brook. By his will, dated in 1763, he gives his real estate and buildings to his 
sons, Amos and Ezra. This estate consisted of about forty acres of land, lying on both 

[52] 



HENRY W. CLARK 

Undertaker 

33 SOUTH HIGH STRKKT 
MELROSE. MASS. 



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153 



sides of Main Street, which was not then in existence, embracing the old village cemetery- 
lot on the north, on which now stands our High School Building, bounded east on Ell Pond 
Brook, south to a line within about ten rods of Foster Street, including the Baptist Church 
and Sewall School House lots, west on hne just in the rear of the Main Street stores, crossing 
Essex Street on the line of the City Hall lot, crossing Dix's Pond and Winthrop Street to 
a line parallel with the north line of the cemetery lot. Ezra Howard became sole owner 
of this estate by purchase from his brother Amos. Ezra Howard died and the estate, in 
1808, passed into the possession of Ezra Tainter and William Dix, who married two of Ezra 
Howard's daughters. Dix's residence was on the corner of Main and Essex Streets, where 
now stands our City Hall. Tainter owned the old house, which was in a dilapidated con- 
dition, and was demolished about the time Main Street was laid out in 1806; and the ma- 
terial was used in the building of the old Tainter house, later removed to Faulkner 
Place, where it now stands. 

The Charles Pratt farm, of forty-six acres, on Lebanon Street, now belonging to the 
City of Melrose, having been purchased in 1887, for the purpose of enlarging the Wyoming 
Cemetery, was originally owned by Jonathan Howard, who built a house thereon. Reference 
is made to this by the Selectmen of Maiden, when running bounds in 1690, as follows: 

"Beginning at the ferder post of Joseph Ljaide orchard so along to Jonathan Howards 
land next to the common land." 

When bought by John Pratt, father of Charles, in 1778, according to a memorandum 
found among Mr. Barrett's papers, the house 

was two story with a leaky kitchen on the back of the west end and occupied by 2 old 
Maids Ruth & Sarah Wait. The old Maids were to have the East End of the house 
during their life time. . . After the death of the old maids John Pratt tore down the old 
house and built the house where Charles Pratt lived in 1806. 

Charles Pratt lived in the old homestead a year and a half after selling his farm to the 
town of Melrose, for $10,000, that consideration being a part of the price. He died Sept. 
2, 1888, at the age of eighty-six years. At a town meeting held March 14, 1898, it was 
voted to utilize the mansion house and twelve acres of this property as a poor farm, until 
such time as the territory shall be needed for cemetery purposes. 

Where now stands the Masonic Building, on the corner of Main Street and Wyoming 
Avenue, once stood another homestead of the Howards, that of Joseph, the second son of 
Jonathan Howard, who died in 1769. This descended to his heirs, and afterward passed 
into the possession of Joseph Boardman; and when the Masonic Building was erected, 
the old house was removed to Dell Avenue, and occupied as a dwelling until within a few 
years, when it was demolished. 

JOHN VINTON of Lynn, was the ancestor of all the Vintons of America. The first of 
the Vintons that settled on Melrose territory, were the brothers Thomas and Benoni, of 
the fourth generation, about the year 1742. They married sisters, Hannah and Mary 
Green. Thomas bought his farm in 1758, situated on what is now Vinton and Franklin 
Streets. The old county road from Stoneham to Lynn, ran through our territory on 
or near our present Franklin Street; a short portion 
of it being now covered by Day Street. 



^^'^^^^^'^^^ ^.^5^^c/ 



As we have seen in the sketch of the Barrett family, Thomas' brother Benoni, came into 
possession of the Mountain House farm, to the south of Maple Street. This was also in 
1758. _ 

This house was on what is now Ashland Street, but has been turned around and altered 
somewhat. 

Benoni Vinton's son, Lieut. John, was a man of note, and filled a number of prominent 
positions in Maiden. 

Lieut. Vinton was a member of the Committee of Correspondence for Maiden, for the 

1541 



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years 1779 and 1780, serving with Lieut. Bernard Green, John Green, WiUiam Dexter, 
Samuel Sprague, Jonathan Sprague and others. He was also Tax Collector for Maiden's 
assessment by the State. 

Benoni Vinton died in 1760, and his brother Thomas in 1763. Thomas left three sons, 
Thomas, Timothy and Ezra. To Timothy he gave the homestead. He never married, 
but lived with his mother, until she died in 1804. He lived to be ninety-two years of age, 
and died in 1836, an abject miser. Turning his farm productions into money, he would 
hide it in all sorts of out-of-the-way places : burying some of it in the ground, a part of which 
was undoubtedly lost; five hundred Spanish dollars, old and tarnished, found in his house, 
were divided among his relatives immediately after his funeral. 

For Thomas was built, in 1770, the house formerly standing near the corner of Tremont 
and Franklin Streets, since removed to the corner of Tremont Street and Ellsworth Avenue. 
This farm descended to his son Thomas, who died in 1841, aged 70, of whom it is said he 
never left his farm for forty years, and never visited Boston, although living so near it. 
He left a very singular will, bequeathing his property in a curious manner to the Baptist 
Church of Maiden. In 1846, the Bajitist Church sold it to Winthrop Richardson. This 
was soon after the Boston and Maine Railroad was opened. At this time there were but 
four houses in what is now the Highlands, west of Main Street — three occupied by Vintons 
and one by the Greens. This old homestead farm was held by Mr. Richardson for farming 
purposes until 1853, when it was surveyed, and laid out in streets and house lots, and people 
from Boston began to make investments and build homes thereon. 

What property had not been disposed of by Mr. Richardson, before his accidental death 
on the railroad in 1853, was inherited by his daughter, Mrs. Caroline M. Wood. 

In 1777, Ezra Vinton bought the Deacon Joseph Green farm and homestead, situated 
westerly from the original Thomas Vinton farm, the house being on Vinton Street, near 
the corner of Franklin Street. Our present Vinton Street was then merely a cartway which 
led from Stoneham to Maiden. About 1790 this house was burned, and Ezra then built 
on the same spot the house now standing. This is one of those large-timbered, strongly- 
built, huge-chimneyed, with oven attachment, old-fashioned houses of the early settlers of 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; devoid of ornamentation, but commodious and 
comfortable. It is not ciuite so strongly built, in the way of timbers, as those of the earher 
settlers. It has had some alterations and additions in the rear, and the top of the chimney 
has been made smaller. 

At the death of Ezra in 181 7, the estate was inherited by his son Joseph Vinton, who 
owned it until 1845, when it was sold to Horatio Nelson Perkins, who lived many ,vears on 
the corner of Vinton and Franklin Streets. He sold the Vinton homestead to Israel Rich- 
ardson of Portland 

A grandson of Ezra, Aaron Vinton, born in 1826, lived on Howard Street, where he 
carried on the farming industry for many years. He died July i, 190 1. 

The southern part of the Ezra Vinton farm, the woodlands, was sold by Mr. Perkins. 
On this land, some way south of Orris Street, formerly Green Lane, on the high ground, 
is an old cellar-hole where once stood the Wilson house. Six or seven large elm trees are 
now growing within its walls. Mr. Wilson was a shoemaker and school-teacher; and carried 
on both branches of his business in that house, and at the same time. 

As we have seen in the history of the Green family, for more than a century they owned 
nearly all the territory now comprised in the Melrose Highlands, and a large part of Green- 
wood. After the advent of the Vintons, and their marriage into the Green families, this 
Highlands territory, to a very large extent, became the property of the Vintons. These 
three brothers, Thomas, Timothy and Ezra Vinton, lived side by side, on the then existing 
county road, (discontinued when Franldin Street was built). 

*The Gould's. While the Gould family of Stoneham is not essentially connected with 
the earliest history of Mystic Side and Maiden through continued residence therein, yet 
the proximity of their habitations on the northern shore of Spot Pond in Stoneham and 

* Written by Levi S. Gould. 

[561 




^ii*HC<^, 



Thf. Gori.i) Family Hojikstkad, Spot Pond Kift!) mi luioui 
From sketch inadf by Hannah Lynde in ISU 



Decius Beebe, Pres. Charles H. Lang, Jr. Jirr Pres. Don E, Curlis, Cashier 

The Melrose National Bank 



This Bank is an established business — a part of the 
life and business of this community. It is worthy 
of the confidence and patronage of the people. It 
is managed along conservative lines and every pre- 
caution taken to safeguard the funds entrusted to us. 

We are grateful to our patrons and cordially solicit 
accounts from all. 



57 



Smiths Pond in Wakefield where they resided for nearly six generations; intermarriage 
with the Greens, Lyndes, Uphams, Spragues, Converse, Vintons etc. and its standing 
in the affairs of Charlestown End and Stoneham for 250 years of which Melrose Highlands 
was formerly a part, added to its prominence here for nearly three quarters of a century 
entitles it to a place among the earliest famihes of Ancient Melrose. 

The Homestead of the Gould family, Spot Pond, built before 1700, remained in the family 
until the present generation when its site was taken by the Commonwealth for park pur- 
poses. From this house Jacob Gould and his two sons responded to the "Lexington Alarm" 
April 19, 1775. Family tradition has it that one of the boys rode, without saddle or bridle, 
a favorite white mare into the trenches at Bunker Hill. Before the firing commenced he 
turned the faithful beast loose and she found her way back to the farm in safety. It is also 
said that on that daj' he wore an old fashioned shaggy beaver hat of which he was very 
proud. After the filing was over it was lost in the excitment of the retreat. Being railed 
by his companions, he returned over the ground, found the hat and bore it home in triumph 
but riddled with bullets. It was destro,yed accidently some years ago. John Gould, 1610-, 
1691, founder of the family came from England in 1635, ^i^<^l was the first settler of Charles- 
town End now Stoneham. He was an all round Indian fighter and a trooper in King 
Philips War. His descendants have been represented in every war of their period and many 
have arrived at high attainments in civil life. By inter-marriage his blood has mingled 
with the Lynde's, Spragues, Uphams, Greens, Vintons and others of the earliest settlers of 
Maiden and "Ancient Melrose". 

In 1843 the Timothy Vinton homestead heretofore mentioned on page 56 passed into 
the possession of Dr. Levi Gould the first settled physician in the territory' now known as 
Melrose but at that time the East School District of Stoneham afterwards incorporated 
in the former town. Dr. Gould was a native of Stoneham and a lineal descendant from 
the John Gould (above mentioned) who came to Charlestown in 1635 and later on was 
awarded a large tract of common land at "Charlestown End," where he settled, thus be- 
coming the first white man in that section of the wilderness now known as Stoneham of 
which Melrose Highlands formed a portion. The very earliest families in the settlement 
of the mother towns of Charlestown and "Mystic Side," later Maiden, appear to be no 
more than eight and in relation to the present territory of Melrose should be classed as 
follows viz. : 

The Sprague's as of Charlestown in 1634 of "Mystic Side" about 1638. 

" " " 1645. 

" " " 1643. 

Maiden " 1663. 

"Mystic Side " " 1648. 

Maiden " 165 1. 

/ "Charlestown End" 1 

\ now a part of Melrose J about 1658. 
" Vinton's " " Lynn " 1640 " / Maiden temporarily 1677. 

\ " permanently " 1742. 

The Vinton's are believed to have descended from a fanaily of Huguenots which fled to 
England in 1572 to escape the massacre of St. Bartholomew. All the others were English 
Puritans. [L.S.G.] 

Besides these families already spoken of, there were others, some of whose names have 
been mentioned, who became residents of this territory at quite an early date; among 
them. Herring, Breeden, Wilkinson, Grover, and Dunnell; but most of them have dis- 
appeared, and no longer have representatives among our citizens. Nearly all of these 
lived in the southeasterly part of the Town, in the Long Pond district. At a later date, 
some before, some after, and some about the time of the Revolutionary War, came the 
Pratts, the Emersons, Edmunds, Larrabees, Boardmans, Hemenways, Taiuters, Fullers, 

1581 



Lynde's 


' " " " 1634 


Barrett's 


" 1635 


Howards' 


" 1635 


Upham's 


' " Weymouth " 1635 


Green's 


" " Virginia " 1635 


Gould's 


" " Charlestown " 1635 



Benson Coal Co. 

GEO. M. HALL, Prop. 

Coal, Wood, Coke, Lime 
Cement, Hay and Grain 



20 Tremont St. Melrose, Mass. 

Deering Lumber Co. 

Eastern and Western 
Lumber, Hard Wood 
Flooring, Wall Boards 
Cedar and Asphalt 
Shingles, Nails, Build- 
ingand Roofing Papers 

44 Tremont St., Melrose 
BurwelFs Real Ice Cream 

As good as it is pure Delivtred by auti) 
Telephone Melrose 21-300-545-M 

Burwell's PKarmacy 

MELROSE HIGHLANDS, MASS. 

LEWIS C. HOYT 
House Painter and Decorator 

Wall Papers 
Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

When in want of Concrete Paving 
and Trucking, you'll find Philpot 
at 76 Dill Ave., Melrose, after 45 
years experience as usual. 

JENKINS FISH MARKET 

I'liont- (J 10 
48 Summer Street -:- Maiden, Mass. 



A REIIVIINDEIR 

'llial we iMMiovate Anti(]u<' Furniture 

E. A. LITCHFIELD 

516 Franklin Street Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

J. SALMONSON, Custom Tailor 

<)l!) Main Street 
Mki.rose Highlands, Mass. 



CUT FLOWERS 



FLORAL DESIGNS 



CHARLES RAFF 

FLORIST 

Flowering, Decorative Plants 



JOSEPH GIBSON 
Painter and Decorator 

.'),) Marvin Road 
Telephone Connection Melrose Highlands 

N. P. STERNFELT 
Practical Shoemaker 

and Firxt-Class Itepairir 
7 West Emerson Street Melrose, Mass. 

DINE AT 

Hotel Curtis 

26 West Foster Street 
Special Dinner 35c Melrose, Mass. 



Keating 



4.SS Main Street 



A MELROSE FAMILY 
For Sixty-Five Years 

A CLOTHING STORE 
For Eighteen Years 

Melrose, Mass. 



Coinplinients ol" 

Post Card and Song Shop 

Theatre Huildinfij, Melrose 

F. T. CHURCHILL 

VICTROLAS GRAFONOLAS 



!»l 



Coxes, Waites, Batons and a few others ; and the descendants of most of these f amiUes are 
still citizens of Melrose. Of some of them much might be said concerning their identifi- 
cation with the interests of the Town, while it was a part of Maiden, and since its incorpora- 
tion. Some served in the early wars; some in the Revolution; some held civic office; some 
were manufacturers; and some were peaceful farmers. 

One of the earliest settlers in Maiden was Capt. John Wayte (Waite) who married 
Mary, daughter of Joseph Hills. From him have descended the many citizens bearing 
that honored name. 

The Ezra Waite house is situated on Swain's Pond Avenue, in the southeastern part of 
Melrose. No one knows just when it was built, but it is undoubtedly two centuries old. 
It has brick-lined walls, and the usual wooden cross-beams in the ceiling, found in all the 
oldest houses, (see page i8). On the opposite side of the road may be seen the remnants 
of an old mill-dam; this makes it evident that there were once two sawmills on the 
outlet of Swain's Pond, one of which, Grover's, has been before referred to. 

William Emerson although born in Reading, and living some j^ears in Woburn, 
early came to North Maiden. He married Mary Vinton, a sister of the three brothers, 
Thomas, Timothy and Ezra Vinton, heretofore spoken of. Mr. Emerson was in the 
Revolution, enlisting at the early age of eighteen; and the relation of his war experiences 
to his children and grandchildren, afforded much entertainment. His first homestead 
"stood near the old well with a narrow cartway between the house and well," says one 
of his sons, the Rev. Warren Emerson, writing June 23, 1876: 

"The house was afterwards sold to Amos P. Lynde, and converted into a barn. In the 
above house my father kept a Public House for a number of years. The family moved 
into the new house on the corner of Main and Emerson Streets, either the 6th or 7th of 
November, 1805; as you may find marked with chalk on a rafter in the garret in the east 
end of the house unless it has been rubbed out by some one. I think marked by myself." 

In this old inn all of Mr. Emerson's children were born, excepting William, son of his 
first wife, who early went to Bangor, Maine, and Isaac, the oldest son by his second wife, 
who was born in Woburn. Another sister of these Vintons, Martha, married John Pratt, 
father of the late Charles Pratt, whose farm was on our present Lebanon Street, and which 
now forms part of the Wyoming Cemetery. 

Francis Hemenway, whose farm was on the easterly side of East Street, corner 
of Porter, was born in Stoneham in 1797, but came to Melrose when he was a year 
old. In 1815, there occurred an Indian mock fight, in which Mr. Hemenway took part. 
Some six hundred Maiden and Reading men, arrayed in war-paint and feathers, tomahawks 
and scalping knives, were pitted against several mihtary companies from Charlestown 
and other towns. The battle began on Reading Hill, north of Green Street, and ended 
at Joseph Boardman's, whose house stood where Masonic Hall now stands. After a hard 
and desperate struggle the red men were defeated. Mr. Hemenway represented an Indian 
squaw, and carried on his back for a papoose, the late Charles Porter, then a baby two 
years old. During Lafayette's visit in 1825, Mr. Hemenway joined the mihtary company 
at Maiden centre, marched to Bunker Hill, to take part in the laying of the corner-stone 
of the monument, heard Daniel Webster's great oration, and shook hands with our friend 
and ally, the great Frenchman. The old homestead, with its well and well-sweep, has 
disappeared but the house still exists, having been moved to the upper end of Porter Street. 



60 



MELROSE GARAGE 
All Kinds of Automobile Works 

Second Hand Cars tor Sale 
Age tit for the Ford Car 

Lunch at Varley's 

4-52 MAIN STREET 
MELROSE 

MELROSE TAILORING COMPANY 

DAVID (ILUCKSTEIN, I'l 

()iS5 Main Street 
Tf.l. 395-J Melrose, Mass. 



FIRST CLASS 
HAND LAUNDRY 



WONG SAM 



]Vork (i'i(iiniii(('('(l 
6S7 Main Street -:- Melrose, Mass. 

P. L. BARRETT & CO. 
Groceries, Provisions and Fish 

9.50 Main Street 
Telephone Connection Melrose, Mass. 



S . B O Y A J I A N 
Shoemaker 



12 Essex Street 



Melrose, Mass. 



C. F. DOHERTY 
First Class Rarber 

- :- Melrose, Mass. 



.SS5 Main Street 



F. J. SCHERRER 

I-'inc Willow i'"iirnitiire, Electric Lamps 
lUc. lulison l*hono}fraphs and Records. 
Repairs in all their branches. .Staining, 
Etc. Wholesale and Retail. 

219 Essex Street 

Phone Melrose 5 96-M Opp. Melrose Depot 



PERRY iS: MARSTON 
Hardware 

Ell Pond Roat House, 

Boats and Canoes to Let Ice Cream and Soda 

C. A. Moody, Proprietor 'Si Main St., Melrosc 



CoioapHinoieinitery 

Raiim Coate 
Sttorinm C©a4s 
o Ooate 



Franklin Rubber Co. 

134 Federal Street -:- Boston, Mass. 



[ARLES Mo ever; 

Contractor and Builder 
Mill «lork 



ANDREWS' MARKET 
Groceries and Provisions 

.54-4', 5^^6 Main Street 



Telephone 12 



Melrose, Mass. 



Slior SIS MAIN STREHT 
Telephone Res. 72-1 



MeHrose 



[61] 



WA K E T I E LD 




Map of North Maiden and part of Stoneham in 1S43, containing every residence and public 
building with names of occupants. Drawn by Hon. Levi S. Gould 





William S. Briry, Ph.G. 




PR ESC R 1 PTION 




PHARMACY 




45 WYOMING AVENUE 


Compliments of 


MELROSE, MASS. 


Houghton & Dutton 




Company 






Alon>^o Hall 




TAILOR 




338 ^VASHINOTON ST. 

SUCCESSOR TO 

IIA.LL, i<fc >VATERMA!V BOSTON 



62 



KEY TO THE COT I.I) MAI' OT 1843 



Dfawii tVoiii iiiciiiorv by Levi S. Gould, who us a boy of iiiiic cauu; (o North ^laklen 
in 184^ and has I'csidcd hciT vwv since. 



7 
8 

9 
10 
II 
12 
13 
14 

15 
16 

17 
18 

19 

20 
21 
22 

23 
24 

25 
26 

27 
28 

29 
30 



A 
15. 
C. 
D. 

E. 

I'. 
C. 
H. 
I. 



Joseph T^ynde, 1670 31 
Warrcu L^aide, 1820 

CJeorge W. (irovcr 32 
Daniel Tiynde 

Joseph Boardnian 33 

James G. Emerson aiul 34 

Charles " Ikirley " 

Howard, about 1750 35 

Francis D. How(^ 36 
George "Tit"" Lynde 
John"Toddystick'"Lyn(le 37 

Elbridge Green 38 

Nathaniel Howard 39 
James L. Green 

Jona Kimball 40 
Ezra Tainter 

James Howard 41 

Benjamin Boardnian 42 

Polly Mannint;; 43 

Wm. J. Farnsworth 44 

William Dix about 1800 45 
Josiah H. Barker 

Isaac Emerson 46 
Widow of Wm. I*]mei'S()n, 

1805 47 

Phineas Sprague, 181 2 48 
Nathaniel Howard, 2d, 

1663 49 

William E. Fuller 50 
George Emerson (house 

and store) 51 

Shubacl L. Taylor 52 

Freeman Upham 53 

Samuel D. Taylor 54 
Samuel S. Upham, 

about 1800 55 



New House built by A. 

P. Lynde 
Jonas Brown, altoui 

1750 
l'](hnund l)a\is 
I']li and .Mbert Iphani, 

1816 
Ephraim Fuller 
Asa Upham, (ancient 

Upham House) 
Eri Upham 
Joshua Upham 
Jesse Upham (about 

1703 see page 50) 
New House built by 

Jesse Upham 
John Wilde 
George Upham 1775 
Nathan Derby 1810 
.John Edmunds 1730 
John Grover's heirs 

about 17 13 
Henry J. Ireson about 

1700 
Rev. John McLeish 
Sally Upham about 

1700 
Dolly Upham, 181 2 
William Lynde about 

1750 
Charles Pratt 1806 
Jonathan Lynde 1700 
Jabez Lynd(^ 1700 
John Peabody about 

1800 
Wm. A. Richardson 



56 Jona Kimball 

57 Pelatiah R. Waitt 

58 William Harlow 1828 
5q Washington Barrett, 

1757 
()0 .Mrs. Jona Barrett 1758 
()i John Larrabec 1805 
()2 Win. J. Farnsworth 1839 

63 Joseph Vinton 1790 

64 The Thos. Vinton house 

1770 

65 Dr. Levi Gould 1758 

()h John "Sopus" Green 1800 

()7 John Stratton 

08 Aaron Green 

69 Samuel Howard 

70 Deacon Samuel Howard 

about 1750 

71 David 151akel\- 

72 Joseph Green, about 1750 

73 John Simonds 

74 William Newhall 

75 Henry B. Wells 

76 Marmaduke Ha\', a1)out 

1750 

77 Charles Cummings, about 

1780 

78 Francis Hemenway, about 

1800 

79 Isaac Cowdry 

80 George "Turkey" Lynde 

81 Amos P. Lynde 

72J2 Isaac Vinton about 1770 
74^2 Ceorge E. Fuller about 
1770 

82 Augustus N'inton 



Road to liea<ling as relocated in i8ot) 
Parts of old road to Reading in 1653 
Upliam's Lane, a Range Way in 1695 
ilemenways' Lane, a Range Way in 

I ^^95 

Saugus Road, the Saugus portion ex- 
isted as early as 1635 

Stonehain Road 1789 

Slonehnm l^oad from .Maiden, i7go 

Spot Pond Road from .Maiden, 1695 

l<:il Pond, 1638 



J. 

K. 
L. 
M. 

N. 
O. 
P. 



Ninians Pond (not now in existence) 

179s 
Long Pond, 1700 
Swains Pond 1695 
First Methodist Protestant Church 

1842 
School House (burnetl in 1845) 1829 
First Methodist Episcopal Church 1818 
Little Red School House 3rd School 

District of Stoneham 1836 



<);5 



A FEW SCRAPS OF LOCAL HISTORY 
By Levi S. Gould 

First mention of what is now Melrose was in the "Book of possessions of the inhabitants 
of Charlestown" wherein was recorded the possessions of Ralph Sprague being "nintie 
acres more or lesse situate and lying in Pond feilde". This was in 1638. "Pond feilde" 
was adjacent to Ell Pond so called from the earliest history. 

Amos P. Lynde, father of A. Wilbur L,ynde, was a carpenter in the "Forties" and built 
several houses, all of one stjde, for which his invariable price was $500. One of them was 
moved from Green St. to corner of Avon and Elm St., and it is still standing. The finest 
house here in early days was the "Liberty Bigelow" house built by Wm. Foster in 1828. 
He resided there and Foster Street was then called Foster's road from his house to that of 
Pelatiah R. Wait afterwards the Wm. Bogle house. This was the second finest house in 
North Maiden; and at that time there was no through road to Main Street, nothing but a 
cart path having bars to take down. Most of the land north of the Masonic Temple and 
bounded by Cottage Street, on the west, Mja-tle Street, on the East and almost as far north 
as the Melrose Station was known as the "plain" covered with scrub pines and birches, 
and in the earlj^ "Forties" could be bought for about $20,00 an acre. It was nostly owned 
by Joseph Boardman who held extensive tracts here as well as marshes in North Chelsea 
where he frequently hunted reed birds. On one occasion, returning from a visit there, 
while taking his gun from the bottom of the wagon, it was prematurely discharged, from the 
effects of which he died. He was very prominent here. He owned where the Masonic 
Temple now stands a house acquired from the Howard's. Attached to the property was 
a slaughter house where now stands the westerly half of the Masonic property. 

In 1843, the only general store was that kept by George Emerson on Main Street, corner 
of Green Street. This section was the "Court end" of the town, and gathered around tlie big 
stove might be found the bone and sinew of the section on every week day evening, discuss- 
ing politics and local affairs until the clock struck nine, when all would rise and retire. 
George Emerson was an ardent Methodist and the pillar of the Church opposite his store, but 
they do say there was a time when he dispensed New England rum as freely as he did his 
dr_v goods and groceries, but that was many moons away. He built the unsightly ice-houses 
which still remain as a standing blemish to the charming sheet of water in the midst of our 
lovely cit3^ From these buildings, and as a store-keeper and shoe manufacturer, he amassed 
a moderate fortune and was considered as the leading citizen of the North End. Con- 
trasted with Mr. Emerson was George W. Grover of Wyoming, who descended from an 
ancient Maiden family of Revolutionary fame owning a mill at Swain's pond. Neither 
George W., or his wife, also l)orn here, could either read or write and he brought up his 
family in equal ignorance until the law compelled him to attend to their education. He 
used to beat a drum, and at town-meeting time, the voters of the North End assembled 
under his leadership and marched to Maiden to the inspiration of his "rub-a-dub-dub" for 
a day at the polls. On one occasion they came within one vote of electing Ell)ridge Green 
to the Legislature, and often elected a Selectman of their choice. 

Capt. Unite Cox (of the Revolution) cut from his farm, between Otis and Perkins Streets, 
the sturdy oak which formed the keel of the old "Constitution" and with great yokes of 
oxen hauled it to the ship-j^ard in Boston. 

The first settler was undoubtedly Ensign Thomas Lynde about 1640, and the house he 
Iniilt in 1670 is the oldest one now standing, and one of the best preserved in America of 
its age. 

Phineas Upham came about 1703 and the house first built by him is believed to be 
standing on Waverly Avenue in an entirely reconstructed condition. While being reno- 
vated and repaired it was struck by lightning and a paper hanger killed. After that, with 
every pane of glass broken and a prey for owls and bats, it remained and was shunned as 
"the haunted house" until i)urchased by Mrs. Stantial some 20 years ago who has resided 

164] 



there ever since and stoutly avers that she has never seen even the (lliost of the orig;inal 
Phineas. 

The house recently jmrehased by the Melrose Historical Society and now called the 
"Phineas Uphani house" is an ancient structur(\ and may have been built by him for his 
son Amos, as, until (luite recently it has been known as tlie "Amos" Upham House. 

In 1843 a stage ran from Reading to Boston three; times a week, which was the only 
public conveyance. In that year and for many years thereafter, no daily i)apers were taken 
here. If anything occurred of great public interest a man loaded up a wagon with news- 
papers and dr()\-e from Boston through suburban towns blowing a fish horn to attract 
attention. At that time there wer(> about eighty-five houses in North Maiden, with a total 
population of three to four hundred engaged in farming and shoemaking. 

The first ice sent to hot countries was cut from the waters flowing from T>ong Pond by 
Frederick Tudor. It is said to have l)een sold as high as twenty-five cents a pound. 

Cottage Street was first called Boardman Str(>et, from Joseph Jkjardman. 

Foster Street West was called Fostei-'s Road from William Foster. 

William Bogle was not a resident here in 1843, but Rev. John McLeish was. After 
Bogle came in 1847, both he and Rev. John McLeish were in partnership in a land deal 
taking in several acres south of Wyoming Avenue opposite the Masonic Temple. Bogle 
was a wigmaker and made a fortune in a hair wash which he called "Hyperion Fluid". 
The Boston Directory claims him as a resident there for several years previous to 1847 and 
the Maiden records do not mention him until the latter date so that the story of his travel- 
ing by the old stage coach from North Maiden to Boston previous to that time except per- 
haps for an occasional visit is probably pure fiction. 

In 1843 there was but one doctor here, Levi Ciould, and he was tlie only Orthodox. It 
is doubtful if there was more than one Catholic, Nathan Derby, while Baptists were as 
scarce as "hen's teeth". The balance of the people were mainly Methodists, of which there 
were two societies, the Episcopal and the Protestant, and thej^ were cjuarreling most of the 
time, until the Baptists finally captured the latter society and its Church in 1856. 

Peat was largely used as fuel and almost every farmer had a bog from which it was cut 
in the summer. 

William J. P^arnsworth for many years a propersous dealer in real estate, as well as a 
public official, was not a resident in 1843, although he owned property here at that time, 
(thirty-three acres in 1839 located between Otis and Perkins Streets) and as late as 1844, 
he was a "hair cutter" in Charlestown. His first residence was corner Perkins and \'inton 
streets. 

An Englishman named Atkinson had a rope-walk on what is now Russell Street, just ofY 
of Trenton Street. He was here in the early "Forties." Sanuiel D. Taylor built a curriers 
shop in the rear of the Methodist Church, at the junction of Main and Green Streets. 

John Wilde, an Englishman, had a shop, seventy-five years ago, in the rear of his house 
on Upham's lane where he made fine cutlery by his own work. 

In 1843 there were but nine streets, or rather roads in the North End known and supported 
as public ways, and one of them, Foster's road, was not a town way throughout its entire; 
length. 

Cotton Sprague, a descendant of Ral|)li Sprague one of the first white men to own 
property in "Pond Fields," was a most jjrominent man in North Maiden. He was a mem- 
ber of the Legislature in 1823, '24, '25 and '26. — It is related of him that he was so liberal 
in entertaining the members of various sessions of the "(Ireat and Ceneral Court" that he 
was obliged to mortgage his ancestral domains to pay the bills — Being unable to discharge 
the obligation they passed from the family control forever — He lived on the Liberty Bige- 
low property — He was buried in a tomb which formerly stood on the line of Main Street 
at entrance of the High School Building. 

The first train over the Boston and Maine Railroad extension left Boston for Maiden July 

Iti5| 



4th, 1845. A train due to pass the "North End from the East on July ist did not get 
through and a great throng waiting to see it all day were disappointed — It was a single 
track road with wood burning locomotives which had to "wood and water" about every 
ten miles. Wyoming had no station until the citizens built one by subscription. It was 
called "Boardman's Crossing" and if you wished to board a train there you had to stand 
on the track and wave a white handkerchief! The writer has been a commuter from that 
station continuously for 63 years and in the ''forties" often waved the "white flag" for a 
single trip — The centre station had the only depot building and during the first 7 years 
Washington Barrett, father of our respected citizens Jonathan and David A. Barrett, was 
the station agent — This building is still in use as a freight house — In 1848 the first sessions 
of the Melrose Orthodox Sunday School, of which the writer is perhaps the only living re- 
presentative, was gathered there — On "Independence Day" every inhabitant who could, 
visited Boston to see the military display and fire-works, and the R. R. ran special trains 
of open freight cars to accommodate the public, not having near enough passenger cars — 
Sometimes they got caught in rain storms and then their condition can be better imagined 
than described. 

THE OLD BOARDMAN HOUSE 

Although this house does not actually stand on Melrose territory, it is so near it, 
being just over the line in Saugus, its age, its history, and the lives of some of its former 
occupants, are so closely connected with our city, that it is appropriate to give a short 
sketch of its history. 

It is known, far and wide, as the Abijah Boardman House, and is situated on Howard 
Street. It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest house now standing on New England soil. 
It was built in 1635-6, by Samuel Bennett, who came to Saugus in the first of these years. 
He came over from England, at his own cost, in consequence of which he received a grant 
of fifty acres of land, locating it on this spot. 

With the shrewdness which was characteristic among the first settlers, he selected for 
the site a moderate elevation just west of a running rivulet which came down from Castle 
Hill to water his "horned cattle," and to meet at the declivity south of the house another 
little stream that kept green and fertile his meadows. 

The house is the best preserved specimen of the projecting upper story architecture 
to be found. It has the old fashioned huge chimney, fireplaces, and ovens, of the early 
colonial period; large beams cross its ceilings; hand-made, wrought iron nails were used; 
its cellar stairs are made of hewn logs instead of boards; and the walls were bricked between 
the upright timbers from top to bottom, thus making it warm and impervious to the storms 
of winter; and the old house is still strong and able to defy the tempests of j^et other cen- 
turies. The projecting upper story, in this case eighteen inches wide, so often thought 
to be so built for a means of defence, simply followed familiar architectural designs for 
dwellings extant in the early part of the seventeenth century. The openings, through which 
to shoot, or pour hot water upon the heads of attacking Indians, exist only in imagination. 



66 



THE MFXROSR HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

For several years many of our citizens have realized tliat the last of the children of the 
earlier settlers of North Maiden, now Melrose, were attaining an age when they would soon 
leave us, and in most cases their homes, with tlie furniture, pictures, furnishings, etc., 
which they had inherited would naturally l)e (listril)uted to descendants who are living away 
from Melrose. It was also learned that in some instances these persons would esteem it a 
privilege to leave many of these articles permanently in our city if some suitable place could 
be provided for tliem and some legal organization found to whom could be entrusted these 
remembrances of their ancestors. It was also discovered that there was located on Upham 
Street, nearly opposite Stratford Road, a farmhouse in an (excellent stat(> of preservation, 
whicli in location, design, and construction was a ])urely colonial building, of which there 
are very few left standing. 

With these facts in mind, Mrs. Henry E. Johnson inaugurated a movement in 191 2, the 
outcome of which has been that The Melrose Historical Society was formed in 1913, and 
uicorporated in 1914, the Phineas Upham House purchased, and definite steps taken to 
preserve within its walls many colonial articles. In ordei- to make it easy for every one 
to share in this most commendal)le enterprise, the annual membership fee has tieen made 
only $1.00, with life eniembership at $10.00, antl honorary mcmbersliip at $100.00. 

The Society has already secured four honorary members, twelve life members, and ovvx 
three hundred annual members, and every one, old and young, is invited to become a member. 

The house is located on southerly side of Upham Street just above Stratford Road, and 
the Society secured both the house and 31,800 feet of land for only $1,916, as the Upham 
heirs were desirous of helping the Society to the utmost. The Society has also bonded 
the tract of land and house directly to the west of the farmhouse and has the privilege of 
becoming owner of that proporty by paying only $2,000 for the house and five cents a foot 
for the land any time during the next two years. It is thought by many of our citizens that 
it is very essential that this iM'0]:)erty should eventually l)e owned by the Society in order 
to secure proper surroundings for the Ancient Upham farmhouse. It is also apparent 
that if the Society should decide to take this property the house can be rented for a suflft- 
cient sum to more than pay the cost of interest, taxation, etc., and that the tenant could also 
be made a general caretaker of the entire property and arrangements be made so that 
simi)le meals could be furnished in the old farmhouse to visitors and organizations who 
might desire to hold their regular meetings in this unique building. 

The "Upham" families and the "Old State House" and "Faneuil Hall" Chapters D. 
A. R. have agreed to completely fit up and furnish three of the larger rooms. 

The officers and committees are giving the most careful consideration to the whole i)lan 
and will gladly welcome suggestions from interested persons. They will appreciate receiving 
information as to the whereabouts of any furniture, woven carpets, rugs, pictures, dishes, 
ornaments, etc., which are associated with the early life of our city. Every article accepted 
by the Society will be carefully preserved and so marked that a i)ei-fect record will be jire- 
served of its history, its donors, etc. 

Attention is called to the fact that "The Melrose Historical Society" is the legal title 
of this organization and that gifts of money, furnishings, et('., ean be left to it by will. 
Arrangements have been perfected whereby any one desiring to give the Society money 
while living can be assured of an annuity from their gift- as long as they live. 

It is expected that eventually arrangements can be made wh(M'(0)y the house antl grounds 
can be made self-supporting and the income secured from memberships used for advancing 
other historical interests, the "object" of Society, as expressed in its charter, being; "To 
arouse interest in the study of the history of the city of Melrose; to secure the preservation 
of its oldest buildings; to collect ))y gift, loan or jjurchnsc, colonial books, pictures, furniture, 



67 



dishes, etc.; to provide suitable rooms for their preservation; and the pubheation from time 
to time of such information relating to Melrose famihes, organizations, events, etc., as shall 
be deemed expedient." 

The officers and Executive Committee not onlj^ invite but urge that every one interested 
in preserving mementoes of colonial days join the Society and by their annual dues of only 
$i.oo help make its work effective and also become entitled to visit the "Phineas 
Upham" house, grounds, and inspect the many interesting articles preserved there. 

The following are the officers of the Society for year 191 5. 

THE MELROSE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

P)-es'ulent 
Franklin P. Shumway, 25 Bellevue Avenue 



Levi S. Goui.d 



Vice-Presidents 
Charles H. Adams 



Oliver B. Munroe 



Ilunorarii Vice-Presidents 
Mrs. Phoebe N. Benneson Moses S. Page Mrs. Chester H. Arnold 

James G. Bowden 

Treasm-er 
Don E. Curtis, Melrose National Bank 

Clerk 
Mrs. Albeut N. Habbehley, 17 Bellevue Avenue 



Claude E. Allen 

Mrs. Franklin P. Shumway 

Charles M. Cox 

Mrs. Frank H. Brown 

Frank R. Upham 



Directors 

John Buffum 
Mrs. Bessie G. Fleming 
Mrs. Henry E. Johnson 
Miss Agnes L. Dodge 
Henry E. Johnson 



Howard T. Sands 
Ichabod F. Atwood 
Victor A. Friend 
Willis C. Goss 



Librarian and Historian, Rev. Harold Marshall 



George R. Jones 
John Larrabee 
Chas. J. Barton 
Chas. E. French 
Arthur M. Willis 
Lowell F. Wentworth 
Mrs. Ichabod F. Atwood 
Mrs. Howard T. Sands 
Alfred H. Colby 
John H. DuffiU 
Mrs. E. S. Page 
Neil S. Casey 
Frederick P. Bowden 



executive Committee 

William N. Folsom 
George R. Farnum 
Herbert H. Gerrish 
George H. Dearborn 
Mrs. Wm. A. Morse 
George W. Bosford 
Mrs. H. Garland 
Mrs. F. S. Hesseltine 
Peter J. Lynch 
Henry Lynde 
Mrs. E. E. Babb 
Mrs. Harry H. Hunt 



Miss M. Bertha Corson 
Mrs. Ethel B. Fletcher 
Chas. E. Seaverns 
William Townsend 
Mrs. Harris M. Barnes 
Mrs. Benj. Ames 
Mrs. W. H. Cotting 
Mrs. F. H. P. Lowe 
Miss Fannie M. Sanborn 
Mrs. Chas. M. Cox 
George E. Cornwall 
Mrs. J. L. Campbell 
Mrs. Frank R. Upham 



168] 



PLAN FOR RESTORING AND IMPROVING THE 
LPHAM HOUSE (iROL NUS 




The Meh-ose Historical Society hope to be in i)osition shortly to complete the purchase 
of the entire tract of land as shown on the above plan, and in order to give a proper setting 
for the whole property Mr. H. P. Kelsey, of Salem, the well-known landscape gardener of 
many of colonial gardens and grounds in Massachusetts, has prepared plans which when 
fully developed will make the property one of the most attractive beauty spots in Eastern 
Massachusetts. Mr. Kelsey discovered that there were a large number of lilac bushes 
on the premises and there has been planted a three-foot purple and white lilac hedge along 
the front and side lines of the two jjrojH'rties and it is proposed later on to have the entire 
grounds enclosed by this lilac hedge about three feet witle and from four to five feet high. 
It has also been provided that a grape vine covered pergola be erected in back portion of 
grounds, old-fashioned flowers, vines, and shrul)s are being j^laced about the house, trees 
and grounds, and it is intended to restore the old well and provide it with wellsweep, etc. 



69 



THE PHINEAS UPHAM HOUSE 

It has already been stated on page 42 that John Upham came to the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony in 1635. He first settled at Weymouth, and in 1648 removed to Maiden. His 
great-grandson Phineas, — the third to bear that name, — great-great-grandfather of Ralph 
Waldo Emerson, the poet-philosopher, and great-great-great-grandfather of W. Cameron 
Forbes, former governor-general of the Philippine islands — received a grant of land in 
North Maiden, now Melrose about 1700. 

In 1703 Phineas Upham was married in Maiden by the Rev. Mr. Wigglesworth, and 
soon after came with his wife, Tamzen (Thomasin) Hill, to North Maiden. We have no 
proofs that this old house was built in 1703, but the statement has been handed down as 
a family tradition only, that Phineas came to this house, then new, "on horseback, with his 
bride, Tamzen riding behind him on a pillion". 

The son and the grandson of Phineas, were both named Amos, and the house was there- 
fore in the possession of an Amos Upham by descent for two generations. This probably 
accounts for its being known as the "Amos Upham House," (See notes on page 50 l. s. g.) 

Asa Upham, son of the second Amos, was the last Upham tn spend his life in the Old 
House. On August 20, 1869, he died there, as also did his widow, three years later. For 
the greater part of the next sixteen years, (187 2- 1888), the house was unoccupied, and 
rapidly falling to decay. A part of the roof fell in, most of the windows were broken, and 
one entirely disappeared. At last the daughters of Orne Upham, who were then owners of 
the old place, decided to repair the house so that it might again be habitable. Roof and 
walls were made whole, panes of glass were reset, one walled in fire-place was opened, and 
gradually, room by room, the walls were cleaned and papered, and the wood-work repainted. 
When the many layers of paper were scraped from the walls of the "Best Room" there was 
revealed beneath, an unsuspected dado. After these repairs were accomplished, 
the old house was partly furnished and used by the family of Orne Upham. After his death, 
his widow and daughters lived there for many summers, and in 1903 his eldest daughter 
was married in the large south-east room, known in earlier days, as the "best room" of the 
house. Since the summer of 1907 the house has been vacant, and at the time of its pur- 
chase by the Melrose Historical Society in 1913 was in a fairly primitive condition, most 
of the modernizing having taken place more than one hundred years ago. 

ITS RESTORATION by Mrs. Hattie Elliott Johnson. The Society commenced 
its restoration by shingling the roof and making temporary repairs in the house, 
and in June, 1914, a consulting architect, expert masons and carpenters were put 
to work. Under their direction new sills replaced the unsound old oak ones portions of 
which however were sound as ever. Under the small north-west lean-to room the 
siUs were of pine, having been put in when this room was added to the main house. 
Clapboards were next removed but none of original type were discovered, but on the west 
side of the house, three layers of clapl)oards and shingles with strips of furring between were 
uncovered, why, were a mystery. Underneath all these clapboards was the first outside 
boarding of the house, many of the boards being from one-half to three quarters of a yard 
wide, all were chamferred and splayed and put on with hand made nails and but few new 
boards replaced these old ones, which were in excellent state of preservation. The new clap- 
boards used were of soft pine, and splayed and were laid as originally placed in narrow 
courses at the sills, increasing in width towards the roof. 

New plates and girts were put in on the east, north, and south walls of the east end of 
the house. The studding was either replaced, spliced, or laid up beside the old, and the 
brick fining to these walls was replaced. The summer beams were solid wherever un- 
covered. The modern windows and frames were removed and windows of the first period 

170] 



square paned wooden muntin double casement put in their place, and windows of 
the second jx'riod were i)ut into the leaii-to. New outside doors of the l)atten type, a little 
over five feet were made after one found in the house, and set into lowered door frames, 
which have been moved over into their orij^inal i)ositions. The width of the l)eams vary, 
many being thirteen inches square. Moors are of white pine being those first laid, some are 
single, some are double. 

The modern woodwork which i.-- left is to be torn out, is of no consequence and the Society 
will select such doors, mantels, and hardware as will be of interest for its museum. 

P'ine sheatliiiig is found in the upjx-r west chamber, which has a nuuitcl s(>t into it, in 
such a way as to be a part of the sheathing itself, and must be nearly as old; sheathing of 
the same type is also found in the lower back hall entry, and also on one side of the lean-to 
kitchen wall, here it runs horizontally, the l)oards being three quarters of a j'ard wide. 

A wooden dado consisting of two wide l)()ar(ls from floor to casement window is in the 
east and west parlors, above the east parlor dado the walls are plastered against hand-made 
lathes, behind which, on the south and east sides, between the outer and inner wall is an 
open space the only one in the house not lirick filled, and while once it naturally would have 
been built up there is no evidence in the tearing out to show otherwise and it was therefore 
left as found. 

On the opposite side of the house, the west parlor, is a ''furred in'' room, this false parti- 
tion is on the north, south and west sides and is to be torn out; the space behind this wall 
being about five inches, a large hole being made in the wall, a dado to match the east parlor 
was found, also the original i)Iaster walls against the brick filling. The south wall is wain- 
scotted from floor to ceiling and contains on its surface three layers of interesting old wall 
pajjers. This room nuist have been in its present condition at the least one hundred years. 

The lean-to kitchen and milk room were built separate from the main house antl are 
butted up against it, evidence of this is in plain view. 

The chimney when the Society took the house contained six fire-places and one a so-called 
false fire-place in the west chamber was removed. The two largest and oldest fire-places 
of the main chimney have been restored, their extreme width l)eing nine feet six inches, 
height fifty-seven inches, depth three feet. One fire-place is sfiuare cornered with stone 
fire back the other has round corners and a herring bone pattern of fireback, both have pot 
sticks and their original Dutch ovens. The hearths are built of square tile, and both fireplaces 
contained at time of restoration brick ovens, one had been made smaller four different times 
the other three and some interesting utensils were found behind them. An oven or hole 
goes from one fire-jilace through to the other and was ])robably used to keep things warm. 
Modern dampers have been placed in the flues of the chimney to facilitate heating. 

The lean-to kitchen contains a fire-place of still different construction, having a ci-ane 
and two brick ovens. Two more fire-places remain upstairs one in the east chamber which 
is very old and has a raised tiled hearth and a tiny one in the chamber over tlu^ kitclicn 
built many j^cars ago by a resident of the house. 

Restoring tliis chinmey and firc-jjlaces bj^ no means, meant rebuilding for so carefully 
was this accomphshed by an expert restorer that it seems as if the chimney and 
fire-])laces had always been thus, the outside chimney was rebuilt from tlic ridgepole up. 
The rest was gone over on the inside brick by brick, and where ever desiccation liad taken 
place, old bricks from the torn out fii'c-places were used antl the entire chinmey restored 
to its original condition. 

The lower and upper front halls arc very i)riniitive, restoration work here, means simply 
removing of paint, leaving the wood natural and patching in the i)laster on the side walls. 

1711 



The lower flight of stairs while old are distinctly modern as the stjde of the stringers show, 
but the upper flight leading to the attic lend distinction to the house being the original, 
and having unique construction known to be at least two hundred years old. Plain wooden 
sheathing slanting back from floor to ceiling encases both flights. 

The attic contains all its first timbering and the two sets of rafters tell the story of the 
present lean-to. The cellar is under the east parlor only, but in prime condition and on the 
door is portion of a very old "butterfly" hinge. 

The story of the house handed down by tradition in the Upham family is that the original 
house contained but two rooms, and this seems to he borne out by investigation. The 
first two rooms being those on the east side, then two more were added on the west, then 
the lean-to kitchen and milk room on the north and east were built and finally the seventh 
room on the north-west corner, which contains to this day on one wall the original outside 
boarding which for some reason was never plastered. Over this lean-to adjoining the main 
house was a little open attic in each end of which were windows eighteen inches square which 
were uncovered at time of outside restoration. The original i)itch of this lean-to came to 
within ten feet of the ground. As the Upham family grew, the roof was raised from the 
ridgepole out and up, as it is seen to-day, making a high, light and weH ventilated open 
attic on the second floor, the whole length of the house. At this time the present back 
stairs, descended into the kitchen without protection at the sides or around the top. This 
is vouched for by the oldest living descendant born in the house now eighty-six years old, 
who says he with his brothers slept in a row of trundle beds in this open unfinished attic. 
As these children grew, a room was partitioned off in the north-east corner for the sisters, 
then another partition erected thus making two more rooms for the boys, at this time they 
were all lathed and plastered as now, and in the middle room a fire-place previously spoken 
of was built b}^ an elder brother. 

The last addition to the house was made about sixty years ago when an ell was put on 
to the lean-to kitchen giving more room, light, water and toilet accommodations. 

The complete restoration of the inside of this house will be soon completed as it presents 
no unusual difficulties and the Society confidently expects to secure the funds needed. 

The Melrose Historical Society has accomplished much since the idea started two years 
ago, which grew into the saving of this pioneer house. In addition to the ample grounds 
acquired with the house the Society has bonded and hopes to take over the adjoining pro- 
perty which contains a house large enough for the Library, Tea Room and home for the 
custodian. It is also desirable to restore the two old wells, one with a sweep, and the little 
old shoe shop with its ancient fittings, which with the possible addition of a fire-proof museum 
building would give Melrose one of the finest historical attractions of Greater Boston. 



721 



